The Summer Job
by TanuSherry
Summary: [PRE RE1] Claire Redfield decides to moves back in with her brother Chris for the summer, but on one condition - she must get a job. Though what she wasn't expecting was being hired as the RPD receptionist, and having the ever cool Captain Albert Wesker as her boss. Well, she did say she wanted an unforgettable summer. ClairexWesker [Warning: strong language! *for now*]
1. Chapter 1: Redfield for Hire

**:Chapter 1: Redfield for Hire:**

* * *

Claire Redfield was definitely _not_ a morning person. Never was, currently wasn't and never would be. The mornings were dreadful. She chugged coffee as soon as she woke up like her life depended on it just to get that certain kick, and it always left and unpleasant after taste that only a pack of mentos could get rid of.

When she was in college, she would cringe at her alarm clock's irritating ring every morning, and to this day, that certain noise was unbearable for her to hear. Now, in the present day, in her second year of college, currently off for the summer and jobless, temporarily living with her big shot STARS member brother Chris Redfield for her 3 months, she still couldn't brave the mornings. Would she ever? she sincerely doubted it.

"Claire, get up already!" Chris barked outside her door, giving it a kick that made the most irritating sound to her. Claire snuggled deeper into her absolutely soft as silk pillow and soft fluffy blanket and begrudgingly groaned. "I'm coming!" she replied, none too happy.

Today was sure to be fun. Chris had been getting on her case lately to get a job since she moved out of her dorm for the summer to back home. She had only been back about 3 weeks and he was already fed up of her _'lazing about the house'_, though Claire preferred to call it _'much needed and essential relaxation'_. He had spent the past 2 nights doing up a bit of a resume for Claire to hand out to a few local business' in Raccoon today, and Claire couldn't of felt less motivated.

Sure, Chris was as pushy as brothers came, but he had always been over protective and pushy since their parents died, and the burden of raising Claire had practically fallen on him. Though he did annoy her at times, she loved and trusted him more than anyone in the world. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"Claire! ass out of bed. Now!" he roared from downstairs.

_And she'd especially never admit it right now._

Letting out an extremely loud groan she hoped Chris heard, she ripped her soft and comfy blanket from her and jumped out of bed. Looking into her full length mirror, she could of laughed at her ever lovely bed head and tired eyes, but she was far from laughing this morning. She begrudgingly rooted through her closet and began to dress in a pair of skinny jeans, a white tank top and a blue zip up hoody. She groaned with annoyance as she brushed her tangled her. Its not that Claire didn't want a job, its that she never got to do anything exciting at any job she'd ever had.

The summer before college, she had worked at the Raccoon City library, stacking and organizing books from 9 to 5. The job had been _immensely_ boring and mind numbingly quiet, that by the end of the summer, she couldn't of been happier to hand in that letter of resignation. While Claire did enjoy reading books, she found the job of a librarian to be too much of a bore to actually get out of bed for everyday.

The following summer she had worked in her college in the computer lab. The only reason she did it was because her then boyfriend begged her to work with him, and they ended up breaking up in that early august, and thank god for that. The job made Claire realize that he was extremely obnoxious and just plain rude. Again, another job she couldn't of been happier to leave.

Now her third summer, Claire had the hopes for a good, enjoyable job. Since her college major was illustration and design, she hoped for perhaps something that required art, maybe a job painting rooms or at a newspaper? She was aiming pretty high but the Raccoon Press - Publisher of the daily Raccoon's Rest - was always hiring, so why not hire Claire? At least as an intern or assistant, and if not that, then at least something that had her up and about, talking to people and actually _doing something_. Maybe a waitress or something.

Tying up her hair in her signature pony tail and spraying on some perfume, she nodded at her reflection in the mirror and made a beeline downstairs. She found Chris in their kitchen, shirtless, cooking sausages and eggs just as he did every weekday. (Claire opted to cook on weekends.) He finished turning over sausages and scooped the contents onto two plates. Claire shuffled over to their fridge and pulled out some orange juice, filling two glasses and placing them on the table.

"Morning." she yawned, practically falling on her chair, ready to dig into her food.

"Morning sleepyhead." Chris teased. "Got everything for today? Resume? School records? Letters of recommendation?"

"Check, check and check." she mumbled as she stuffed her mouth full of sausage. Chris nodded and paced back over to the kitchen counter where he'd left his STARS shirt and quickly threw it on. Claire had practically downed the entire glass of orange juice by the time Chris had his hair fixed and was sitting again.

"Were you raised by wolves of something?" Chris joked as she ate - more like inhaled - her breakfast. Claire laughed a loud fake laugh and refocused on her breakfast. "Practically." she deadpanned.

Chris scoffed and punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Mean." he stated as he ate his eggs. Claire simply shrugged while smiling.

Once the meal was finished, Claire quickly ran upstairs to grab her 10 copies of resumes, her school records and letters. Quickly fixing her hair in the mirror, she decided she was all set. Here goes nothing. She thought as she ran down the stairs and out the door to hop into Chris' STARS cruiser.

"So where do you want me to drop you off and where do i collect you and all that?" Chris asked as his sister fiddled with the radio, only settling once she was tuned into the siblings favourite rock station.

"Leave me at Kendo's gunshop." she stated nervously. She knew Chris wouldn't allow it but she wanted to be sure first.

"Claire, you're _not_ applying there, why the hell would you want to work there anyway?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Claire simply shrugged. She had an interest in guns, but she knew that if she said that to Chris, he'd hit the roof. "My friend worked there before, said it paid well." she lied. She didn't often lie to Chris, and if she did, it was only ever a little white lie, but it still always made her feel bad. She silently wondered if Chris would flip out at her if and when she decided to finally get that motorcycle she'd been looking at for months in a magazine she had kept under her bed, circling the exact model 4 times with a thick black marker and promising to herself that she'd own it one day, no matter what he said.

"Leave me on Warren street." she asked finally after a few moments silence. "That Grill 13 restaurant, the gas station and the press are all up that way."

Chris nodded. "You gonna apply to all three?" he asked. She nodded swiftly.

"I can cross over to central from there and hit up the few café's, diners and whatever stores that are there, i should be finished around your lunch hour so ill just walk up to the station around then."

Chris made a face at that last part. Claire was about to ask why when he elaborated. "Today's our training day so good old Cap'n Wesker will probably have us running around the training field until lunch hour, so i might and might not be there."

Ah, there it was, the ever daily bash of Chris' beloved captain. Claire had never actually met his captain, but she'd heard enough of his tyranny to want to stay as far away as possible. Chris had described him as an old stuck up, sunglasses wearing James bond wannabe with a spoon stuck too far up his ass. She pictured him as an overweight, cocky idiot who got off on ordering people around. Claire had actually met Chris' entire team since they often visited the house on Saturday nights to watch the game and have a few drinks, but not once had Wesker been present.

Chris had said that he was always invited but never showed. How rude could you get? Some people were just assholes.

"But if the rest of the team are there, introduce yourself as my sister, i talk about you all the time so they'll be glad to meet you." Claire nodded and blushes at the same time, it was nice to know that her brother talked about her to his friends. She suddenly hoped it was only the good stuff.

The car suddenly swerved off to the left and jolted Claire from her musing immediately. "Alright Claire bear, knock 'em dead." he said with a warm smile. "You'll do fine, just stay calm and cool."

"Calm and cool, got it." she replied sarcastically, sticking out her tongue and him and jumping out of the car with a giggle. "Catch you later!" she said, waving as he sped off.

Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, she walked towards Grill 13, her first destination, and prayed to god that she'd get something good this summer. _This summer has to be different, it has to be!_ she silently begged who ever was listening as she walked in through the doors of the restaurant.

* * *

"Only 2 more laps and you're free to lunch." said Wesker smugly as he led the Alpha's and Bravo's along side Enrico Marini on their run around the RPD's training field. While the Bravo's and Alpha's were all sweating immensely, Enrico only beginning to sweat since the last lap or so, Wesker hadn't even broken a sweat. _They've only run around 20 laps or so. Pathetic._

"Jesus christ, i wont make it." huffed Brad as they rounded the corner to the bottom of the field, barely carrying himself at this point. Barry noticed him falter and instantly caught up to him to grab him by the arm. "If you trip, Wesker will give us another 10 laps last last time!"

Brad groaned and shoved Barry off, trying his damn hardest to keep up with the rest of the group. "Come on Brad, less than 2 more laps and we can call it quits!" reasoned Joseph from behind him, gently nudging him forward.

"My legs feel like fucking jelly!" he complained, now threatening to fall over completely. Wesker smirked and without turning around or slowing in anyway, he said, "If he falls, i will add 10 laps for all of you as punishment, it would be in your best interest to keep going."

Chris groaned. "Come on Brad! you can do this, for us!" he cheered half heartedly, not wanting to make it sound like a threat, but..

As the group passed their starting point, Jill shouted out, "Just one more lap Brad!" The group were sweating buckets, and could hardly feel their legs underneath them, so they knew if Brad did fall, they wouldn't survive the punishment. While pretty much everyone in STARS admired and looked up to Captain Wesker, he was a man of his word and never went back on anything. The Alphas had learned all too well within their first month that no threat was empty threat with the divisions leader.

Suddenly, Brad let out a long groan and toppled over just as they approached the halfway mark, wheezing as he gasped for breath. There was a long groan from the entire group, but Wesker quickly cut through it as he approached the bent over Brad with a look that could melt bones. "10 laps for Alphas." he announced.

"Bravo's, you're good for the day." said Enrico after. Just like that, the six Bravo's headed away across the field, happy to have their weekly torture over and done with.

"S-sir." Rebecca Chambers had nervous started, turning around to face the Alpha captain. "Brad has asthma, he could r-really hurt himself if he continues to run." she flinched over so slightly when the captain gave her his full attention half way through her sentence.

"Ah yes. Brad, you're excused then." Wesker stated with the slightest hint of annoyance, but didn't allow it to show that much. He nodded towards Rebecca as she walked away with Brad, most likely going to exam him as she usually dd after any of their training exercises. Brad fainting or falling during their exercises wasn't exactly new, and since Rebecca was currently studying medicine to become a full fledged medic for the team, the responsibility usually fell on her.

"As for the rest of you." Wesker announced, looking at his exhausted team with little interest as they collapsed in the field and breathed heavily. "10 more laps."

"What!" roared Chris from the very back of the group.

_Here it comes._ The rest of the Alpha's thought in sync. The ever constant testosterone slash pissing contest that was Chris versus Wesker in this brave but very futile game of who can shout the loudest.

"Of course you would have a problem with that, Christopher." Wesker mused as he took off his glasses and began cleaning them with a small cloth from his pocket, paying Chris no attention. Oh how that drove the Redfield insane.

"Brad collapsed because of his asthma, that is _not_ our fault, don't punish us for something we can't control!" he hissed as Wesker carefully placed his glasses back on. He hated those damn sunglasses. He could never actually tell if Wesker was looking at him or not with them on and the thought of Wesker being any more passive then he was right now was enough for Chris to punch him square in the face.

"Brad is your team mate. You are both praised and scolded as a team Christopher, the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can stop spouting your idiotic nonsense every time you feel i'm being 'unfair' to you." he retorted, though he could tell that that just made Chris all the more mad, not that he really cared.

Chris threw his arms up and scoffed loudly. "You know what? fuck this." he stated, walking off from the group and towards the Department, though Wesker clearing his throat made him falter ever so slightly.

"Take another step and i will punish the entire team for your tantrum."

Chris was at his wits end, he wanted nothing more than to turn around and punch the smug expression right off his captains face, but he wasn't about to get his team punished for something he did. He turned around instantly, greeted with relief from his team and a smirk from his captain.

_Cocky bastard._

"Drop and give me 20 push ups." he demanded, leaving no room for argument.

Seeing no other alternatives, Chris dropped to the ground and immediately began his punishment in front of his team. He could nearly feel all of there eyes on him, he tried to ignore the thought as he counted off his push ups.

When he finished, Wesker merely nodded and announced that that was it for the day and for everyone to his thr showers. A sigh of relief was heard from everyone, except the still fuming Chris Redfield who wasn't quite over his problem with his captain. Huffing, he followed the group towards toe building.

* * *

After his shower, he wasn't really surprised to hear Wesker call for him to report to his office. Probably another speech on discipline or something. He knew what it was to be disciplined, he'll he'd spent a seriously long time in the Air force learning all about _discipline_. Honestly, at this point, he was really sick of hearing about it. Its not like he _never_ listened to Wesker, they had the occasional disagreement but overall they were fine, or so he thought.

Sighing, he threw his gym bag under his desk and proceeded to Wesker office, knocking on the door, only walking in once he heard Wesker announce, "enter" before opening it and slumping down in the seat opposite him.

Wesker ignored him for a few moments as he focused on papers he was signing. Chris looked around him for a moment as he saw how intent his captain was on finishing whatever report he was doing. As per usual, his desk was immaculately clean, papers in neat stacks, pens lined up perfectly at the top right and even his little desk lamp was perfectly alligned with the edge of the desk._ The man clearly has a serious case of OCD._

"I'm exhausted from these spats we have Chris." he said, not looking up from his papers.

"Then lets stop having them." he answered instantly, not particularly angry, more exhausted himself from talking about it. How many fights had they had over disagreements in the field, about paper work or training? too many.

Setting his pen down, the STARS captain took off his black sunglasses and focused on his marksman with a hard and - as usual - unreadable expression. "I don't understand what you want from me Christopher." he practically hissed. "You disobey orders when you feel they don't suit you, you mock my judgement in front of my team and you laze about when i ask something of you!" he stood up now, standing over Chris as he spoke, attempting to intimidate the man. Chris would be lying if he said it wasn't, but only a little.

Chris stayed silent. The words, _'Your judgement can be pretty shit'_, no matter how many ways he tried to phrase it, always came out sounding wrong. He really didn't want any more punishments for the day. As much as he despised paperwork, he'd take it any day over Wesker shouted at him as he ran an endless loop of laps around the department.

Sighing, Wesker pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I must ask Christopher, do you enjoy making my job much harder than it needs to be?"

"Look." Chris stated, throwing up his hands defensively. "I just have the occasional problem with your-"

"_Occasional?_" he asked in disbelief. "This is not an _occasional_ occurrence Christopher, this is a _daily occurrence_, and its ending today." he pointed an accusing finger at his marksman.

"Why?" Chris asked. "What have you ever done for me?" he spat.

"_Excuse me?_"

What the hell was Chris asking? a favor from his _Captain_? _'What have you ever done for me'_ ? provided you with a good job with good pay perhaps?! oh how these idiots drove him insane. He'd need to take an aspirin before he could even dive into his unmerciful workload tonight at the Umbrella lab. _Thank you Christopher._

"You've stayed behind work for hours helping Jill with hand to hand combat, and you even gave Joseph a key to the shooting range so he could practice after work, where the hell's my special treatment?" he asked, annoyance in his tone.

It couldn't of been as simple as that. A favor for his compliance? That was simply too easy!

"Then what is you want Christopher?" He asked in amazement, almost in awe of how he hadn't reached out to grab his shirt and punch him out of annoyance.

Chris thought for a moment. _Mondays off would be sweet._ "How abo-"

His request was cut off by Jill's giggling and a muffled voice shouting something, maybe Barry's.

Wesker raised his eyebrow in mild curiosity and simultaneously, the two men stood from their chairs and walked out of the office to see what all the fuss was about. Wesker was about to shout at his team for clearly slacking off of work until he noticed a redheaded girl in the middle of the group.

Wesker stood for a moment, analyzing her. Perhaps a civilian that was looking for help with a lost dog or a mugging? though she looked pretty happy.. perhaps that wasn't it. She was rather easy on the eyes though. _Long red hair, tied up, bangs nearly covering her eyes, a beautiful smile, tall shapely figure.._ Wesker shook his head to erase all those kind of thoughts. It had been a while since he'd been a woman, obviously too long if his mind wandered so easily at the sight of any woman, though he never looked twice at any woman scientist in Umbrella, and he wasn't particularly attracted to Jill nor Rebecca.. What was attracting him to this Redhead all of a sudden?

"Miss, this is a restricted office of the Raccoon Police Department, who exactly gave you permission to simply walk in here?" he quickly asked, instantly putting a stop to all laughing and chatter.

"I-i um.." Claire stammered as she looked around herself, noticing the team that she was just getting to really like had scurried off to their desks and returned to work, ignoring Chris, Wesker and her presence completely._ Uh oh._ "I.. i'm sorry.. your receptionist had left when i walked in, so i just thought i'd come up.. ?"

_Left? Its 3 PM! That's the 3rd time this week that woman has left early without consulting me or leaving any messages, she is definitely fired._

Chris and Claire were awkwardly silent and just the littlest bit uneasy as Wesker fell silent, clearly lost in his own thoughts. Chris cleared his throat and walked over beside Claire, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, attempting to calm her shaking. "C-Captain Wesker?" he asked experimentally. Instantly, the blonde focused on him. "This is my sister Claire, i'm the one who told her she could come up here, sorry."

_Sister? _Wesker smirked internally. _Oh, how she would be a fun way for him to torture Chris, but how was the million dollar question, and when._

"Nice to finally meet you." Claire said warmly, flashing a shy smile and holding out her hand for a hand shake. _Polite and sweet, how unlike a Redfield._

Wesker simply glanced at her hand but made no move to return the gesture. "Like wise." he replied.

Claire scrunched her face up in annoyance but only for a minute, quickly stopping herself from showing any disrespect to Chris' captain._ God he's gorgeous though!_ she internally thought._ A rude asshole clearly, but a sexy one at that. Wait what? god Claire, that's Chris Captain of all people! he's probably like 30.. though he certainly isn't bad to look at.. god you might as well be drooling!_

"So how did it go?" Chris asked as he draped an arm around her shoulders, steering her towards his desk. Wesker raised an eyebrow but decided to ignore the siblings. It was lunch hour so he decided to fill himself a cup of coffee by the table located beside Jill's desk. Claire watched him walk off for a minute before realizing that her brother had asked her a question.

"Wait what?" she asked, "Oh the job stuff?" Claire cringed ever so slightly.

Sure, all the places she'd gone to took her resumé and all told her that they'd call if they wanted her, but none seemed to keen on hiring her. The Raccoon press apparently had already hired 2 people from a local high school for the summer but told her they would _'keep her in mind'_, and the owner of the Grill 13 on the street over wouldn't stop staring at Claire's breasts, so she doubted if she even got the job would she even take it. She had high hopes for Emmy's diner that was only a short walk from the RPD and the owner was quite friendly, so Claire could only hope that she'd get that waitress job. _Or anything semi decent._

"It went alright, i'll know from most places how it went within the week." she replied finally.

"That's good, i know you really wanted a job within the next 2 weeks so i'm sure one of the places will get back to you soon, don't sweat it." he said, gently nudging her arm in a playful manner which made her smile. "Lets call it a day, the STARS are heading to Emmy's for lunch, wanna come?" he asked her.

"As long as you're paying." she joked. Claire jumped when she felt hands slap her back. "Ha! i like her!" Joseph roared as the team walked out of the room, leaving behind a highly amused Wesker.

_So little Claire needs a job, does she? Oh, this is too perfect. Chris wants a favor, Claire needs work, and i'm in need of entertainment._ Wesker's smile rivaled the Chesire cats at that very moment as he sipped his coffee and returned to his office for the lunch hour, practically giddy with anticipation.

* * *

At Emmy's, the diner was practically vibrating from the laughter that emitted from the STARS and Claire as they huddled together in a booth, chatting and laughing, getting to know Chris' younger sister quite well.

In fact, not even 10 minutes had passed, and Claire was already engaged in an arm wrestle with Barry Burton as the rest of the team watched, cheering and whooping as they stared each other down, their arms staying perfectly still, save for the odd twitch.

"My moneys on you Burton!" Brad cheered, slapping his shoulder encouragingly. "Claire, you win this and _ill_ pay for your lunch!" Joseph chimed in. "Okay now you have to win Claire!" encouraged Chris.

Claire and Barry were fairly evenly matched, much to his surprise. He expected Claire to be taken out within 30 seconds, but she was really holding her ground here. Suddenly, Barry felt his arm waver and Claire took no time in pinning his arm, triggering a loud serious of applause and chanting from the rest of the team. Barry threw his arms up in defeat while laughing and shook Claire's hand.

"That's some arm kid." he joked. "I learnt from the best!" she answered, nodding in Chris' direction. He blushed ever so slightly and scoffed, pretending as if he had nothing to do with it, but the siblings honestly arm wrestled all the time, so it was no surprise that Claire was strong in that area at this point, making Barry an equal, but slightly lesser match, much to everyone's surprise.

"Alright alright boys, settle down!" Emmy hollered from behind the counter, her usual smirk in place. Emmy was no stranger to the team, in fact, Emmy's was their only place to eat for lunch and dinner, so over time, the entire team had gotten to know the old woman pretty well. Although in her late 40's, she was still vibrant and full of energy, flashing all of the team her winning smile every time they came to eat, and the food was always top notch, so the STARS had readily agreed there was nowhere better they could ever go for good food and good service.

"Sorry Emmy! Blame Chris' sister!" Jill answered with a giggle, leaning back in her seat to reveal a blushing and slightly embarrassed Claire, who waved sheepishly.

"Claire? Chris' sister?" she said in disbelief. "My my! i had no idea that the lovely young woman from earlier was your sister Chris! I knew i saw a resemblance!" _Hopefully this means i have a better chance at that job. _She thought while smiling.

"Why do people always say me and this idiot look alike?!" Chris asked with a smirk, pointing to his sister. "Because you do?" Brad asked incredulously.

Claire shrugged. "I guess its something other people see and we don't, like i look way more like mom while you just look like dad." she answered. The redhead always did feel a small pang of guilt when her parents were brought up. It always made her mind replay the night when she was 6 and was woken up by a scared Chris and their aunt Jennifer, delivering the news that their parents had died in a car crash. That night changed something about Claire, but she'd never been able to put a finger on it.

"Though mom wasn't a redhead." he snickered. "Well duh, my red isn't exactly natural." she answered with a laugh. "Wait its not?" Brad asked. "Of course not." Chris answered, punching him in the arm for such a question.

In fact, Claire's original hair color was the exact shade of brown Chris' was, but she desperately wanted a change around the age of 14, and without asking her brother, had bought a bottle of dye and did it herself. Ever since, she has been periodically dying her hair once every 2 months, and not once had she ever regretted the decision, she loved her red hair.

"Order up for STARS!" shouted Emmy as she lined up dishes on the counter and rang a small bell, and that was when everyone jumped up to grab their dishes and dug in, settling back into chatter once they all had their dishes and drinks. Oh yeah, if she got this waitress job, she could see these guys everyday.

_Now that would be a sweet job._

* * *

"And Jill and Chris will be patrolling Wednesday and Friday night." Wesker announced to his team shortly after they arrived back from lunch. The pair nodded at each other and Wesker silently dismissed the group, allowing them to return to reports and the like. "Chris, a word?" Wesker asked before he returned to his own private office.

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, he hopped up from his seat and followed his captain. Great, what the fuck did i do now?

"Chris, i hate to be an eavesdropper, but i couldn't help overhearing that your sister needed work earlier, or am i mistaken?" That was Wesker alright, he never tiptoed around the subject, he just got straight to it.

"Yeah, why?" he asked, a little confused as to why Wesker would even care.

"It seems our currently receptionist, Karen, has decided that this job is not worth her time, and therefore i need a replacement." he answered.

"Wait, you want Claire to be the receptionist?" he asked, a little flabbergasted at the thought. _Claire? work here at the RPD? With me? Everyday?_ The notion wasn't exactly appealing. Sure he loved his sister, a ton, but he didn't exactly want her there to scold him when he had arguments with Wesker or got mad at chief Irons.

"I hardly believe it takes serious training to answer phones and take messages Chris, i believe anyone could do it, so why not your dear sister?" he asked as he rooted through his desk, searching for the application form he'd printed off while the team were out to lunch. Once he laid his hand on it he handed it over to a confused looking Chris.

"U-uh.." Chris shook his head and took the sheet from his hands. "Yeah.. yeah i'll give it to her and tell her to apply."

Wesker frowned ever so slightly. "Chris, our currently receptionist quit _today_, i will be requiring Claire by tomorrow if she wishes to have the job, or else ill be redirecting the job of taking my messages to one of the team until we have the position filled."

"Wait so Claire just gets the job just like that?!" he was generally surprised. This seemed too good to be true all of a sudden.. Wesker wasn't exactly known to just hand out favors like this, there was definitely a catch.

"Just like that." he echoed. "Your work day will be over in about 20 minutes, so i expect an answer from dearest Claire by 8 PM." he replied as he began filing away papers and reports, leaving Chris to stare at him, still shocked.

"A-alright Captain.. thank you, i'll let her know." he nodded weakly. _What a weird turn of events._ He clutched the sheet in his hand tightly as he turned to leave, figuring that Wesker ignoring him to put away bundles of sheets was a silent dismissle.

As he walked out of the office, He turned when he heard Wesker clear his throat. He was leaning against the door frame as he stared at Chris with a blank expression. "Consider this your favor." he stated as he shut the office door, effectively separating the Alphas from their captain.

_Wait.. THIS is my favor?!_

* * *

**It begins kekeekekeke**

**Claire and Wesker is my favourite pairing ever, I'M NOT EVEN SORRY.**

**YES i will still be finishing Hope and hopefully (no pun intended) King and Lionheart, i just wanted to get this stories plot out before i forgot it, you know? Hope you like it so far!**


	2. Chapter 2: First day

**:Chapter 2: First Day:**

* * *

"Yeah right!" said Claire with a fake laugh, clearly unamused with her brother as she put away their dirty dishes in the sink.

"Claire, I've got the sign up sheet in my bag! Straight from Wesker! you have this job, all you gotta do is sign your name and you're in! I swear!" Chris told her as he grabbed a clean towel from the drawer. Their dish washer had broken after Christmas according to Chris so they were reduced to washing the dishes by hand, not that either mattered.

"What the hell did you even say to Wesker to get me in?" she groaned, badly hoping that he hadn't gotten down on his knees and begged for a job for his little sister. That wouldn't of made a great impression. She dipped a plate in the warm water and scrubbed it down with a sponge.

"Nothing, i swear!" He said as he took the plate off his sister and wiped it down, placing it on the drying rack beside the sink. "Wesker just handed me that form and literally told me you had the job and you and that you- wait, shit!" he shouted, throwing down his towel as he ran for the hall.

Claire quirked an eyebrow. "Need i ask?"

"Thank god, its only 7:46!" he announced as he looked up at the homes only clock above the front door. "Claire, call Wesker and tell him you're in!"

Claire paled at the idea. "Call him?" sure, the man was quite handsome and charming in a way, but that was pretty heavily overshadowed by the fact that he was rude, obnoxious, and most of all, scary as hell.

"Yeah, i have his number, here!" Chris grabbed the house phone and dialed out Wesker's number, and before she even had a chance to protest, Chris had shoved the phone in her hands. "Wait i-" she panicked as she phone rang out in her hand.

She yelped as she heard his emotionless voice._ "Yes?"_

"I.. Wesker! I mean Captain Wesker!" _good job! you don't sound like an idiot at all._ "I'm sorry.. this is Claire Redfield?" she calmed her shaking breath down ever so slightly but was still pretty panicked, not to mention embarrassed. Chris shook his head in amusement and shuffled into their sitting room.

_"Ah, my dearheart, how can i help you this evening?"_ he practically purred. Claire felt a faint blush cross her cheeks as she heard him but quickly brushed it off.

"I'm calling to accept your job offer?" she said, nibbling on the phone's coiled wire nervously as she awaited his response. She suddenly bit down pretty hard on the cord as she replayed what he said. _What the hell is dearheart? sounds like he couldn't decide between calling me dear or sweet heart so he mixed them together._

_"Of course, i'll be needing the form i gave to Christopher earlier signed out in full and on my desk by 9 AM tomorrow, then Jill will show you what you'll be doing."_

She sighed, feeling as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. _So what if i'm not getting the exact job i wanted, i'm gonna get to work with my brother and his friends, this'll be great!_ "Yes sir, thank you so much for the opportunity." she said, trying to sound 100% sincere as she spoke timidly.

"_Anything for you dearheart, good evening._" he said before hanging up.

Claire hung up the phone and allowed herself a tiny squeal of excitement. She was no longer unemployed, and it felt great!

"So?" Chris asked, re emerging from the sitting room where he'd hid during their brief talk.

"I got the job!" she happily chimed. Chris wasted no time running over to her and giving her a hug, quickly ridding her of all the oxygen in her body as she giggled against him.

"Alright alright! i gotta go fill out that.. sheet thing or whatever and pick out my clothes for tomorrow!" she happily squealed as she ransacked Chris' STARS bag without waiting for his permission, taking the sheet and running upstairs. "Night Chris!" she shouted down before closing her door.

Chris chuckled and shook his head. "Night, dope."

* * *

"Well that's my entertainment at the station sorted." Wesker stated as he set the phone back on the hook and sat back down at his place in the lab.

William cleared his throat in a dramatic fashion. "As i was _saying?_" he quickly cut in.

Oh if it were anyone else, Wesker would of killed them by now, but over the years, Wesker had developed a fondness for William Birkin, if you could even call it that. They had been partners for years and were probably the two most unlikely men to ever befriend each other. William was rather _eccentric_ and fun loving while Wesker was quite the exact opposite. _Opposites attract_, Wesker supposed.

Wesker curtly nodded in his direction. William nodded back and continued. "So she told me i'm suppose to pick Sherry up today after her piano lesson, after all that lost sample business last night, which was_ her_ fault to begin with, but you know how Annette can be, stubborn as a goat." he chuckled slightly as he wrote his report on a chemical reaction to the b-virus strain. The virus wasn't exactly stable yet but he was hoping to see some results soon.

"I see." Wesker said, not entirely interested in the entire subject, but if Wesker was anything, he was a rather good listener. "And did you pick her up?"

"Pick who up?" he asked as he sprayed some disinfectant on his work surface and cleared it away with some kitchen paper.

Wesker raised a brow. "Sherry? its 8:05 PM"

Williams eyes shot up to meet Wesker's. "No its not! its only 7:05!" he said in a slightly hysterical tone. Wesker slowly shook his head and motioned towards the clock over their lab door, which clearly read 7:05 PM.

"Are you serious?!" he practically shouted as he quickly gathered up files and shoved away beakers and wrapped up his sample. "Aw, Annette's gonna kill me!" he said as he quickly put the sample in the fridge to incubate.

"That would make the 6th time in 2 weeks i believe." he stated rather matter-of-factly before he finished off his report on the b-virus' progress for the day.

"Al, i have to go! could you-"

Wesker gave a flick of his wrist as he dismissed the scientist. "Go, i will submit our reports to Marcus, fear not."

William noticed Wesker's sudden happy mode, probably from who ever the hell that _dearheart_ person was on the phone. Shaking his head, he quickly nodded and teared off down the hall of the Umbrella labs.

Wesker sighed and sipped his coffee. The lab always was a little more pleasant when their was peace and quiet, but he _did_ appreciate William's banter and how it seemed to make time go by faster every now and then. Finishing off his coffee, he decided he would drop the files off and call it a night. He never was too productive on Monday's, what with it being the STARS training day and the fact that he had paper work coming out of his ears that needed sorting on Monday's.

Shuffling his and Williams files until all the papers within were perfectly aligned, he turned the machinery around the lab off and finally the lights, locking the lab behind him and then striding down the hall.

He deposited the papers in Marcus' in box just outside of his office before taking the surface elevator which brought him up to a back alley behind some bar. Thankfully the bar was usually empty on Monday's so he was spared his usual migrain he received upon coming up to the surface, but their was nothing he could do. Umbrella were paying off the bar to keep their mouths shut about all the scientists coming and going from the alley, so he had to deal with the inconvenience.

Starting up his car, he smirked as he caught his reflection. "Dear Claire as my receptionist.." he chuckled softly at the idea before pulling off from the curb and driving towards home. "The play almost writes itself."

_And what i play it would be._

* * *

"And that button patches the call through to Chief Irons, try not to get it mixed up with the STARS hotline and the RPD's hotline." Jill explained as she leaned over the counter and pointed at the reception's main phone, clearly indicating the two mentioned buttons to Claire as she quickly jotted down notes in shorthand. "And any messages that you get need to be reported after either our 10 minute break at 11 PM or our 30 minute break at 1:15 to either the captain or the chief, not before or after." Claire curtly nodded, writing down the times and circling them each 3 times with multiple exclamation marks.

She was so nervous this morning that she had gotten up an hour earlier to wash and straighten her hair, but quickly decided that leaving her hair down didn't suit her, so it was tied up in a neat pony tail instead. She wore a white blouse and a dark pair of jeans with black flats, more smart casual than anything, but Claire decided that it wasn't exactly an office job, so why go all out? Besides, most of the people coming into reception would be criminals and officers, hardly anyone to get dressed in a pencil skirt and button up shirt for.

Wesker hadn't come in yet so it was just her, Jill, Chris, Barry and Enrico in the offices upstairs, and a few RPD policemen._ Thank god._ Claire wanted to get down all the important information before everyone arrived, especially Wesker. Despite not really getting a good vibe off of him, she had a desire to work hard, maybe even_ impress_ her new boss with her work. She wanted to show him that she was greatful for this job and she was going to try her damn hardest.

"Got it." Claire answered without lifting her head from her notebook as she did a small diagram of the phones machine and all its buttons, with names labelled on each.

"Oh, and Wesker takes a black coffee everyday when he comes in, so the minute he comes through those doors, get up and start making it upstairs beside my desk, alright?" Jill said with a smile, only happy to show her fellow STARS' sister the ropes. After all, she remembered having to be a temp receptionist when they were looking for their previous receptionist, and if she had only known what she did now, she would of avoided _a lot_ of speeches.

"Perfect!" Claire said as she quickly flicked back through her notes. "Thanks so much Jill, i really appreciate it, i was beyond nervous this morning." she admitted with a relieved sigh, now happy that she could be a damn good receptionist with all of her cheat notes.

"Aw, theirs no need to be, the job can be a little scary at first, but you fall into a routine, it gets easier." she replied as she pushed off from the desk and stretched, yawning as she watched Claire stick the phone buttons cheat sheet beside it with tape. "Oh man, i have so much paperwork.. i better get back to it." she groaned in clear annoyance. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Does Chris really call you Jilly bean?" Claire asked in an amused voice. Jill paled rather quickly. "W-what?"

"Oh _please_, i heard him on the phone to you last night." She snickered at Jill's reaction. Oh how she loved to tease her.

".. How much did you hear?" she asked, leaning in closer to Claire and keeping her voice low. Claire giggled.

"Enough." she practically hummed as she shuffled a stack of papers off to the side with a wide grin on her face. "I think its adorable when you giggle_ too_ Jill!" Claire mocked her in a gruff voice, attempting to mimic Chris' voice from the previous night. She had to hold her pillow up to her face to keep from laughing out loud. Her pillow was soaked with tears of laughter by the time he had hung up and Claire even had to flip it to sleep on.

Jill gasped softly and blushed a bright red. It was really cute on her actually, getting all embarrassed over her late night calls with her brother. "Shhh!" she frantically hissed. "Not another word or i'll get you fired faster than you can _say_ Jilly bean!" she threatened as she walked away from her desk. She was standing on the first step when she turned and grinned. "And i think the names cute!" she finished before she ran up to their offices.

_Up to Chris_. Claire mused, giggled ever so slightly to herself. In all honestly, Claire loved Jill. She was the perfect match for Chris in every way. Before STARS, Chris would often bring home the worst women Claire ever had the displeasure of meeting, often cheap girls wearing slutty outfits. It didn't take Claire long to figure out their appeal to Chris. But Jill was completely different: She was smart, strong, cute and funny, all a winning formula for her and even better for her brother. Though, Chris and Jill hadn't technically gone 'public' with their relationship, it was as obvious as the sun in the sky. Plus, they were quite cute, considering Chris called her every night to ask how her day went.

Claire sighed as she began writing the weeks sign in sheet for the officers downstairs. Someone to call her every night and ask how her day was, besides Chris, that sounded heavenly. Being 19, almost 20, she had only ever had the one boyfriend, and that ended rather quickly last summer, and he was definitely not the type to ask how her day was. _I really put my mind to getting a job this summer and i did, so why not put my mind to getting a cute boyfriend?_ she thought with a smile. _Now that would certainly make up a good summer!_

She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when the main door opened with a swoosh and the infamous Captain Wesker strode in. His hair was combed out of his face perfectly, his sunglasses ever present. She wrinkled her nose ever so slightly at the sight of sunglasses at 8:40 AM on a Tuesday morning, but her eyes were quickly drawn to his navy t-shirt that wrapped tightly around his perfectly chiseled abs and highlighted his strong physique. _Wow.. i bet his chest looks amazing with no shirt to cover it up.. wait what!_

Did Claire really just make a pass at her brothers _boss_? Okay, maybe she needed a boyfriend a lot more than she thought. Or a new hobby. Something that left her with very little time to imagine how most likely hard and warm his chest would be to the touch and how i tight embrace would feel against him. _Amazing._ She ventured. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was scolding herself. She ignored that voice. There was no rule against enjoying the view. _What the hell is wrong with me._

"Ah, my lovely dearheart." Wesker greeted with a smirk.

Claire smiled a genuine smile at the Captain and nodded. "Good morning Captain Wesker, no messages to deliver and i have my sign up sheet on your desk." she said with glee, feeling pretty happy so had remembered to even do that. The obligatory greeting should of been longer to include reports of the days sign in's and such but Jill assured her that there would be no need for that on her first day. She definitely needed to get off on the right foot with him, and she was sure that would be no problem._ Especially since he can't read my mind._

"Good, and Jill has explained everything to you?" he asked, carefully scrutinizing her as she stood before him, wearing a bright smile and a pencil behind her ear. Oh, this will be too easy.

"Yes Captain." she answered as she caught him looking her up and down. She blushed every so slightly as she watched him, but he must of noticed her shift in posture as he instantly looked her dead in the eye.

"I am needed elsewhere at 12:45 AM and i am unsure of how long i will be gone, please take any messages for me and have them on my desk as well as the sign in sheets from today if i do not return." he said, and with a flick of his wrist in a quick wave, he was walking up the stairs to the STARS office.

Claire swallowed a lump in her throat and slumped back down in her chair. She had spent about 10 minutes writing up sign in sheets when she practically jumped out of her seat from the fright of the buzzing of the intercom on her desk. Her eyes widened as she noticed it wasn't any of the STARS beeping her, or Chief Irons, but Wesker. Shakily, she pushed down the button and timidly spoke up. "Yes sir?"

"A moment in my office Dearheart." he said before he ended the connection.

Slowly, she stood from her desk and saw that her hands were visibly shaking. She was quite intimidated by the man, but that wasn't making her shake. She had to make a good impression today or she'd surely be shown the door in no time! _Please let me keep this job!_

She gave a small wave to the STARS as she passed the Alpha team. Chris shot her a friendly wink as she passed, which honestly made her feel a lot better. As she knocked, she heard a curt "Come in." and strode on it, closing the door behind her.

"Is their a problem, Captain Wesker?" Claire asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, but she wasn't sure if it was working or not when Wesker's eyes were always blocked by those insufferable sunglasses that she was beginning to hate.

His head tilted upward to look at her, and suddenly she felt another lump form in her throat. "You said on the back of the sheet that you suffer from migrains, is this a serious issue?"

Claire sighed in relief. "No sir, not at all." she answered. She and Chris had suffered from mild depression a few years back, when their parents deaths were pretty fresh, and one of the side affects from the medication was often headaches that had eventually progressed to migrains. She no longer needed nor took the medication, but when she was feeling awfully stressed out or upset, they would come rushing back to her. Though the migrains were definitely more manageable now that she knew how to deal with her grief and didn't particularly feel it as badly now.

He sat back in his seat, almost as if he was thinking about her answer and weither it was satisfactory or not, but after a moment he seemed to return to hunch over his desk and continue singing papers. "Do you take medication for them?"

"No Captain, they're not that bad."

Wesker nodded and wrote that information down on the sheet, then taking off his sunglasses to watch Claire as she fidgeted in the chair in front of his desk. He could of smirked at the very thought of a Redfield actually being intimidated by him.

"Something wrong Dearheart?" he practically hummed, barely able to control how much this amused him.

Claire's heart suddenly thumped against her rib cage. _He knows hes scaring me! and hes really going to try to play me like a fiddle? Please! I am sooo not that fragile!_

Claire smiled up at him and instantly, her whole composure calmed, and just like that, she felt in control once again. "Not at all Captain, I was just afraid of missing calls while i was up here."

"Oh i apologize Claire, i wasn't aware that me questioning you about your employee files was a waste of your time, and on your first day no less." he replied rather swiftly, the smirk wiped from his face. Oh but he was grinning on the inside.

Claire opened her mouth to speak but absolutely nothing came out_. Shit! Okay, maybe i shouldn't of been that cocky.. apologize! say you didn't mean it! you really didn't, you just.. ! _

"That will be all miss Redfield." he said, dismissing her as he shifted focus to his precious paperwork. She flinched as he spoke her last name. Dearheart was a pet name, rather affectionate even, Claire was quite neutral, but Miss Redfield was like something reserved for a scolding. _First day and your new boss hates you, and its not even 11:00 AM! good going.  
_

Grumbling internally to herself, she stood from her seat and dipped her head slightly in a show of both apology and leave and she scampered out the door. Oh, he had won the battle, but he had _not_ won the war! Now that she had a chance to speak with him privately, she realized a few more things about the man. One, those damn sunglasses were like an emotional shield, heavily guarding his eyes so she could never tell his expression. Two, he clearly got off on power, as he so _well hid_ in their little meeting, and three, she had never met a more intimidating man in her _life._

"Claire, Coffee." He called from his office before she shut the door. Well, i got a neutral nickname, that's something? Wait, why did she care what he thought of her now? he had effectively ruined her whole "Employee of the millennium" attitude she had adopted for the day, and now she simply wanted to get work over and done with, so why did she still value his opinion of her? Shrugging, she decided she could figure it out later when she didn't have to fetch coffee for her boss or fill out sign in sheets.

She swiftly made him his black coffee, though she quickly spooned in another teaspoon of coffee grains to add to the already black mixture. She snickered as she reasoned that the coffee needed to be as bitter and black as the man himself. If he had any complaints, he could always do it himself.

She walked into his office and gently set the mug down, turning to handle to face him. He didn't acknowledge her in the slightest. Didn't even flinch when the mug was set down. _Really?! This is where we're at?! _

"Thank you Deartheart." he murmured as he read a file. Claire allowed herself a small sigh of relief upon realizing the man wasn't completely devoid of manners. She smiled and left the office, though the smile hardly reached her eyes. Redfield's were quite good at holding grudges, and this one would be no different.

As Wesker sipped his particularly bitter cup of coffee, he allowed himself a short chuckle at the Redfield. From his research so far, he found that she was rather easy to make mad, and that she perhaps had a crush on him, considering all her blushing and smiling she had been doing all day. Perhaps crush was too strong a word, maybe teen hormones would be better? Still though, he had deduced that she at least found him tolerable, and that would be enough to carry out his plan of action, after all, he wasn't offering her this position out of the goodness of his heart. No no, he had much bigger things in store for his fiery redhead. _Much_ bigger things.

Glancing over at the clock, he noticed it was the STARS break at 11 AM, so that meant it was time for him to take his leave. William had called earlier to say he had some important news and that Wesker needed to get their before Marcus came back at 12 AM from his own break. Sighing, he gathered himself and walked out of his office, locking the door, and paying no mind to the STARS who had gathered around Barry's desk as he had started yet another arm wrestling match, but with Brad this time.

That would be over rather fast.

As he sat into his car, he glanced at his reflection in the car door mirror and wasn't surprised to see not a hair out of place. Nodding to himself, he started up the car and sped off for the underground entrance to Umbrella, and although Claire's attitude had put him in a rather whimsical mood, he prayed it wouldn't be dampened by yet another failure, mix up or decay of another sample.

If that happened, he may just have to take out his frustrations on his team, and his only willing assistant Claire.

* * *

**School is awful, yada yada yada!**

**I wanted to include a section that was going to be after this in this chapter but ill be saving that for next time, teehee 3 **

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews so far, i hope you're enjoying it just as much as i'm enjoying reading it!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Plan

**:Chapter 3: The Plan:**

* * *

"Why am i not surprised?" asked Wesker, glaring at the failed B-Virus that sat in its petri dish.

"It killed the 2 rabbits we tested it on instantly." William groaned, running his fingers through his hair in a show of frustration. "What the hell are we gonna tell Marcus? he'll have our heads for this!"

"We tell him that the virus simply needs more work." Wesker answered nonchalantly as he put the petri dish into the biohazard waste bin with a look of distaste plastered on his face.

"The virus is a _complete_ failure Al! Theirs no saving this virus, only possibly salvaging from our notes."

"Obviously we start work on a new virus, we just trace to the point where the virus became lethal and go from there." he answered.

"Marcus will have my head on a plate if i tell him we're starting over research again!"

"Then we tell him that we're still testing, he doesn't need to know that the B-Virus has failed." he took off his sunglasses and began cleaning a small smudge with his pocket handkerchief.

"Al if he finds ou-"

"He wont Will, as long as you don't lead him on." Wesker snapped, wanting this failure to be forgotten and to salvage what could be saved from it from the research notes. Will did always have a nasty habit of beating a dead horse when it came to failed viruses. He never could just let it go.

William groaned loudly and grabbed his files, flipping through a few pages until he landed on the desired one, then taking it out and scribbling down - in his awfully hard to read writing - that the virus was still in testing stages. "If he comes in here screaming and shouting, i'm putting the blame on you." William quipped.

"And why me?" Wesker asked, his voice cold.

"Because, _Captain Wesker_, you're never here to help with research, and when you are, its only time to fill out evaluation sheets!" he replied, matter-of-factly as he shuffled papers and placed them in the outbox on their counter.

"Oh spare me." Wesker groaned, absolutely sick and tired of this argument. "You know as we-"

Suddenly, there was a curt knock on their lab door, and without another word, the 2 men turned to see non other than James Marcus. Wesker inwardly cursed. He had done his best to avoid Marcus but the man did love to surprise the two men by coming early, more often than not.

"Update me." he curtly commanded the two scientists. He sounded to be in a foul mood but that was no different than any other day.

William cleared his throat nervously and spoke up. "We made a mistake with the last sample, we'll be regenerating a new sample and rectifying our mistake from our notes as me and Doctor Wesker have just found out our problem, there should be no more hindrances from here on out sir."

Marcus pursed his lips, his forehead wrinkling ever so slightly from the disapproval he clearly felt. Wesker and William both knew all too well that they were in for a threat.

"I am sure that you two are aware that silly mistakes like that will have you promptly kicked from Umbrella if they are every repeated again."

Williams nod was immediate, while Wesker's was more so a tip of his head.

James grunted. Secretly, when he paired the two, he had hoped they would tear each other apart, hoping to come out on top, but he had unwittingly formed quite the little partnership, hell, maybe even _friends_. That wouldn't bode well in the coming weeks.

"S-sir?" William asked nervously. "Have you had a chance to review our applications for the Progenitor study?"

James smiled ever so slightly. "Ah, the Progenitor study, of course, i will have that announcement for the entire floor next week Doctor Birkin." he finished. He was currently reviewing the applications with Oswell, but because of the faith he had in his 2 most promising scientists, he had highly recommended them for the study. Though he could not say a word until the official announcement next week.

"Thank you sir." William answered with a curt nod. He admired Williams willingness to comply with rules, something Wesker could of stood to learn.

"I expect to see results from the B strain soon gentlemen, as you were." he finished as he stepped out of the lab, leaving the scientists to their work.

After a few moments of silence, Wesker spoke up. "You signed us up for the Progenitor study?"

William scoffed. "You're the one that said for me to!"

"_You_, sign _you_ up, i wont be able to juggle Captain Weskers paper work and Doctor Wesker's research if i'm accepted." he sighed, packing away papers and folders into a bag.

"Oh poor Captain Wesker, Marcus' little pet that gets to play police officer all day." He laughed about half way through the sentence, imagining Wesker as a little yapping chihuahua that only existed for Marcus to click his fingers and have him perform tricks. Wesker didn't find it so funny.

Wesker leaned in towards William, his face like thunder. "What i do, i do for our research and a future in this company, you'd do well to remember that the next time you feel the need to insult me, or I might just very well turn that we into an I by the end of the week." he hissed as he zipped the bag closed and stood.

"I need to get back to work and continue with the blood sampling on the strain." Wesker stated as he fixed his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose

William stared at Wesker for a minute, "Wait, go back to the police station and.. do blood sampling?" he asked incredulously.

"Today i will just get the STARS to run laps while i work on the sample, it wont take me too long." he answered, trying to sound reassuring but not to great affect judging by Williams skeptic look.

"Err.. aright Al, if you think that you can do it without looking suspicious, dropping blood onto virus samples isn't exactly what most people have as a hobby these days so you wont exactly be able to bluff your way out if your caught."

Wesker smirked and as pushed his chair under the counter. "Get caught. _Ha_." he echoed as he walked out of the lab, bidding William adieu once again until most likely the next day for an hour or 2, then back to STARS and his mountain of paper work.

He gritted his teeth at the thought of dealing with the noise of STARS for a few more hours, but shook his head, banishing all thoughts. _Someday, all of this police business will be behind me and i will be allowed to work in peace._

And hopefully, work in Marcus' place.

Sure the man wasn't exactly overly infuriating, in fact he was quite tolerable and tried to help the two men in anyway, but that didn't matter. The man had a status of power within these walls while Wesker was merely like that of an injured bird that's forced to fly on another's back.

Always attempting to establish and distinguish himself from the crowd, Wesker had worked exceptionally hard for years to get his chance at Umbrella, and now that he had it, he wasn't about to give it up for any reason. He would change this world, and he would change it for the better. The only reason he was even the STARS captain was from Marcus' recommendation that it would look good if he went undercover for the company to show his loyalties and skill as an undercover police man.

Wesker fixed his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and submitted his reports into Marcus' in boxes and exited the building as he always did, sighing as he practically fell into his car, appalled by the idea of going back to face the abysmal band of morons that made up the RCPD. He growled as he started up his car and drove off.

The work was absolutely infuriating, and while he did enjoy the power trip his insubordinate's provided, he would hardly call the work worth while or even worthy of his time, the completely opposite of how working for Umbrella felt, or would soon feel when he got on the team for the Progenitor virus anyway. Though there _was_ a silver lining to all of the grief that STARS brought, and that was his glorious plan.

And that plan? Wesker nearly allowed a chuckle to escape his lips as he pulled into the RCPD's parking lot. That plan would surely leave the entirety of the whole building in an uproar once he enforced it, and thanks to a certain redhead, he had found the perfect catalyst.

Though thanks to Marcus and the failed B-Virus, Wesker would have to probably work on a new sample for the next week non stop. He'd be lucky if he slept this week in fact. The thought was enough to make him want to roar at the next person he saw.

A wide smile spread across his face as he thought about taking out his frustration in a more _constructive_ way.

"Ah, my Dear heart, you seem to be able to provide endless entertainment, without even trying it seems." he said to himself as he walked into reception. His smile disappeared as soon as he walked in, but he really had to restrain himself from chuckling when he saw a smiling Redfield behind the desk.

That smile wouldn't last for much longer.

* * *

**1 week later**

* * *

"That man is a _demon_, pure evil, a tyrant, and anything else that's awful to deal with!" Claire complained as she picked away at her meal in Emmy's, sitting with Chris and Jill.

"Tell me something i don't know!" The amusement on Chris' face could be seen from space, much to Claire's annoyance.

Wesker had really made her work for her first week, in fact, at times, what he asked for was just plain ridiculous. He demanded to be left alone all day Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, but that didn't stop him calling Claire constantly for absolutely trivial things. He had roared at the STARS for absolutely no reason what so ever and he had asked Claire to leave random cryptic messages to long phone numbers she had never even heard of. Most of the numbers she had called she only left short weird messages, and close to all of them was to a "William" from some weird company phone number.

He had shouted at her on Thursday in front of Barry over smudged ink on a signature and she was so mortified that her face went completely red in front of him. Oh, she'd get Wesker back for that yet.

Claire cleared her throat and looked Chris deadly serious in the eye. "_Dear heart_, my coffee isn't right. _Dear heart_, these reports are wrong. _Dear heart_, are you aware that the ink is smudged on these sheets? _Dear heart_, can you help me remove this stick from my ass?" Claire mimicked in her worst impersonation of Wesker she'd ever heard.

Though Chris _did_ spit out his drink at Claire's last one, which she smiled proudly at.

"What's all that Dearheart stuff anyway?" Jill questioned as she chewed on her cheese burger. "It sounds like he likes you or something.. "

"That's disgusting Jill." Chris quickly interrupted. Jill smirked at his swift reply.

Claire giggled softly. "Yeah, the boss doing the secretary, that's original."

"You _what?_" Chris asked in a low tone, one that made Claire's head whip to him in a flash of surprise. "Wha-? No! i was making a joke!" she said defensively, throwing her hands up and shaking her head.

"Jesus don't even joke about that, you'll give me a freaking heart attack." he said, taking a relieved sigh. Both Jill and Claire looked at each other, smirking. The two women knew all too well how over protective he was. Jill had tried to loosen Chris' binds he had on her in regards to dating, but it hadn't worked at all. She had probably slammed that door shut and padlocked the door the day she brought him her first and to date, only boyfriend that turned out to be an asshole.

Jill shrugged as she took a swig of her coke. "I unno, if she started doing Wesker, maybe she could sweet talk him into forgetting about drills." she joked. Neither women missed his glare as he focused all attention to his meal. The girls laughed as loud as hyenas at Chris' uncomfortable silence.

And yet, Claire knew it was all joke, but even now as she sat in bed hours later, she couldn't help but blush at the thought of _doing_ Wesker. _God Claire, this is getting ridiculous. _Claire shrugged and turned to sleep. She figured because she was still a virgin that that's why she was even entertaining the idea. _That's it, blame Hormones._

The thought was pretty hilariously impossible, but there was no crime in private thoughts now, was there? She giggled and shook her head. "You're thinking about your god damn boss. Could i not fantasize about that guy with the long hair from college or Brad Pitt?" But for some reason, she couldn't. What the hell made Wesker so special?

Maybe it was the whole forbidden thing, that always made girls want someone more, right? Right, that made total sense. After all, this wasn't the first time that something forbidden was something Claire wanted. Something about Risks and Danger always did give her an adrenaline rush, and she loved that feeling.

Satisfied with her conclusion, she wiped her mind blank and drifted off to sleep, content with the thought that was going to wake up to a lazy Saturday morning, her day filled with no plans, and that was absolutely fine with her.

* * *

"Claire!" Chris called, jolting Claire awake from a pleasant dream involving both Brad Pitt and the guy from her college.

Claire groaned and glanced at her bedside clock, stifling a scream at the device which read 6 am. "Chris, what the hell! Its Saturday!" Claire roared as she buried her face in her pillow, prepared to fall back asleep.

"Claire get up! Wesker's on the phone for you!"

_Wait.. Wesker?_

"..He what?!" Claire shouted in disbelief, jumping up from her bed in an instant. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror before she left the room - she was in a tight wife beater and boy shorts, but it was only Chris so she didn't bother throw on a dressing gown or anything.

In an instant, Claire had arrived in the kitchen, spying Chris holding the phone up to Claire, not looking too happy as he was still in his boxers and super man shirt, probably grumpy from being woken up early and having no coffee yet. Claire shook her head and held the phone up to her ear. She mentally groaned. What the hell could he need now? Sure he treated her like a slave at work, but calls on days off? that was ridiculous!

"Hello?" she asked, trying to send as awake as possible, but her voice was still a little rough from only having just woken up.

The quiet, almost inaudible chuckle of the STARS captain was what she heard first. "My my dear heart, you and your brother certainly are sleeping the day away."

"Its 6:02 am on a Saturday!" she bit back rather fast. Sure she was still intimidated as all hell by the man, but the way she had been treated all week by him gave her enough confidence to return some of his jabs. Besides, she knew how he operated now; the man loved control, but Claire hated being controlled, so she knew her limits, but that didn't stop her from stepping out of the boundaries here and there for playful banter as she liked to call it.

"Dear heart, the brain is, on average, more active between the hours of 6 and 8 am." he stated.

Claire rolled her eyes and resisted a scoff as she glanced at Chris storming back up the stairs, presumably to get dressed. "My brains active period once i get enough hours of sleep!" she retorted.

He chuckled once again, and Claire picked up that he was obviously in a good mood. It was hard enough for her to be able to pick up on it so soon, but she noticed that when he was in a bad mood, he was give Claire frowns and sarcastic, condescending replies, while when he was in a good mood, he would chuckle and almost humor whatever she said.

Then he cleared his throat. "That may be, but i require your services today." he said.

"But Captain, its Saturday!"

"Claire, i do suggest that if you want to keep this job, you will do whatever it is i ask of you." he quickly got in before she got in more of a huff over this.

Claire wanted to smash the phone against the kitchen wall, but relented and settled for showing the phone the middle finger. "Yes sir." she said, not meaning it to sound nice or even slightly pleasant. "What is it that you need?"

Wesker smirked. "I need you to come to my home and collect some files for Chief Irons, i can't go in today and they need to be returned."

Claire's eyes widened. "Come to your home?"

"66 Dovett street, Dear Heart, you have an hour before i will be gone." he said, and hung up the phone without another word.

Claire made sure to hit the hang up button around 60 times before she groaned loudly and hung up the phone. Storming back up to her room, she begrudgingly got dressed and brushed her hair, not bothering with make up or even tying up her hair. That's how mad she was.

* * *

"So we're scraping the B-Strain _completely_?" William asked, anger evident in his tone.

"We're repeating mistakes from the A-Strain Will, we need a different approach to this strain all together." Wesker stated as he filled his friend a cup of coffee in his kitchen, making sure to put the mug on a coaster beside Williams untidy stack of papers. He gritted his teeth at how carefree and unorganized he was, but he knew that if he kicked up an argument about it, it would amount to nothing, as it always did.

"So what are we calling these strain? _Throw science at the wall and see what sticks-Strain_?" William was really trying to push Wesker's buttons today about scraping all of their research, but Wesker wasn't going to let it get to him today. Scraping their research and starting anew was a smart approach in rectifying their mistakes, even if William only saw it as Wesker's way of being a dick.

They needed to think outside of the box for this virus to enhance cells, as oppose to killing them off as soon as they invaded the host. The virus was supposed to take over cells completely, enhancing ability, but instead of enhancing ability, the virus would take over, but the body wouldn't be able to handle it. They needed something to stabilize it, and at this point, they were testing everything and anything.

"Will, feel free to cry and moan about lost research, just please get it over and done with soon so we may begin to think about a new direction." Wesker stated flatly, leaning on his counter, sipping his own coffee.

"Fine, fine!" William sighed in defeat. "So whats the news with you messing with your secretary or whatever?" he asked, not all that interested, but badly needed a change of topic. The thought of going into work and starting all over from scratch again was enough to make him scream, but he would have to deal with it.

"Ah, the plans for my Dear heart." he chuckled lightly and fixed his sunglasses. "Did i mention she was dear Chris' little sister?"

William shook his head and chuckled with him with that, no amusement in his voice. "Oh you're going to have a field day with that poor soul then, knowing you."

Wesker shrugged. "I deserve entertainment with at least one of my jobs."

"So what do you plan to do? sleep with her in your office and accidentally call Chris in or something?" William guessed as he watched the blonde smirk at him, amusement lighting up his very being as he stared at him.

"Even better." he commented.

William made a 'hmm' sound and swirled his coffee before answering. "Sleep with her and never call her again?"

"Do you think so little of me that i go around sleeping with women and never call them?" Wesker quipped, frowning ever so slightly.

"Fine then, what's the grand plan then, _puppet master_?" William asked, sick of guessing.

"Have her fall in love with me." he commented as he downed some coffee, smirking at William as his expression went from interest to confusion.

"Teens fall in and out of love all the time, it'd be rather cute to break up with Claire and have her run to dear Chris for emotional support, knowing that if he ever tries to confront me for it, i'll have him out of STARS." he smiled wide as he finished his coffee.

"Evil bastard." William stated, "You're going to break that poor girls heart for the sake of some entertainment."

Wesker smirked. "Oh while she's under my employment, i will be the perfect gentlemen. Having her close will provide some more personal information on STARS and Chris to use against them during the Mansion exam, a woman in love will sing like a canary if treated right, and in exchange, i will let her down easy when the time comes. "

"Albert Wesker, ladies and gentlemen." William said in astonishment. "You know if you want a girlfriend, that new scientist Ada's been staring you down for weeks."

Wesker let out a hum of amusement. "Ah, the lovely Miss Wong." he echoed to himself, almost forgetting William was there, which left him more than confused.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Wesker gently set the empty mugs into his sink and nodded to William. "And that will be my dear heart now William, i will see you back at the labs." he said with a flick of his wrist.

William nodded. He knew the drill. Any time people came to his house it was usually people that couldn't see William with him - Umbrella execs (who assumed the 2 scientists were in a bitter rivalry), Marcus (who assumed the same thing), rarely a STARS member (obvious reasons) and now, his secretary.

"You better be back for research and development later, i can't pull a late one tonight since Annette has a meeting around 6 and i have to be home to watch Sherry."

Wesker merely nodded, placing his hand on the door hand and only daring to open it once he heard his back door slam shut.

* * *

Chris was so mad about being woken up on a Saturday that he had gone back to his room and locked the door, most likely squeezing his pillow tightly around his head to block out Claire's banging on his door, asking for a lift to Wesker's place. At least, that's what she presumed he did.

She was at least happy the walk wasn't too far, only about 20 minutes. She used to have a friend in high school on the street, so she had no trouble getting there. She was just happy the weather was nice and not raining, or else Chris would of gotten an ear full when she arrived home, not that he wasn't getting one already.

Still though, she was pretty pissed that after such a horrendous week with the Satan incarnation for a boss, she was expected on a Saturday. _How the hell much does this job pay anyway? obviously not enough_. She huffed and sped up her pace as she spotted the Dovett street sign.

Walking quite a bit down the ways of the street, she noticed that the neighborhood was full of shouting and laughing children playing on bikes or with pets, and even a few people out jogging or walking. The street was similar enough to Chris and Claire's house, but since they were in their parents house that was located slightly more 'out of the way' than Dovett was.

Still though, the street was wholesome and quite a nice setting to settle and raise a family. A sudden thought popped up into her head. _Does Wesker have a wife? or kids? a pet perhaps?_

For some reason though, she couldn't really imagine him with any family and especially not any pets. Or maybe she was completely wrong and the man had a wife and a few kids. She was hoping for the first option to come true. She frowned to herself. You have a problem! hes your brothers- oh you know what!

And just like that, her brain had given up fighting. She only ever had random little ticks to mentally hit on her boss, but she knew in her heart and soul she'd never actually act on them. God no.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the small black mail box that read _66, Wesker_ on the side and swallowed a lump in her throat. She noticed the house beside him had a few bikes and a little table set up with a few plastic teacups on it. She smiled at the thought of children having tea parties at it. The other house had a perfectly kept lawn, and a lot of multicoloured flowers that made the front look gorgeous and really vibrant. Wesker's front yard was just well maintained and plain. _Well what the heck were you expecting?_ Claire had no idea.

Gently pushing the doorbell, she waited a few minutes before the door opened, and she was greeted with the sight of Albert Wesker in the most confusing clothes she had ever seen him.

He was just in a pair of sweats and a plain white shirt. For some reason, this was really strange for her to see. _Well why the hell would he wear his STARS uniform on his Saturday?_ Claire mentally slapped herself and focused on Wesker as she saw his mouth curl into a smirk.

"Dear heart, welcome, please come in." he said as he stepped aside, allowing her into his humble abode. As she walked in, the first thing that hit her was how.. rather dull his home was. It wasn't huge, but not small either. The hall had deep mahogany timber flooring, but the kitchen and sitting room (which were pretty much joined) both had white tile. The couch set was black, as was the counters and presses in the Kitchen. _Geez, ever hear of colour?_ There were no family photos on the wall, in fact.. no photos at all from what she could see.

There was a painting in the sitting room but it wasn't entirely interesting to her. It was an abstract imagine of some sort of army but it didn't particularly interest her. Being an art student, she was rather picky and precise with what she did and didn't like, and abstract art was very hit or miss for her.

"Wow, everything's so.. tidy." she commented finally, following Wesker to the kitchen.

Wesker chuckled lightly. "Thank you Dear heart." he said as he sat at the counter, pulling his laptop to him and adjusting the screen. Claire didn't really see what was on it because he was typing and clicking anywhere and everywhere so fast that Claire barely saw a thing before he closed it again. Claire jumped slightly when a printer she hadn't noticed on the kitchen table turned on and printed a sheet. She looked to Wesker who silently gestured for her to pick up the sheet with a nod.

Looking over the sheet, she saw a complete list of the RPD workers and STARS. Confused, she looked back to him.

"You have experience with computers and typing i presume?" he asked.

"Uh.." Claire started, "A.. little bit." Honestly, technology wasn't really her forté. Her college was slowly integrating the use of them to teach the class typing skills, bur honestly, she didn't care for it. She could still type and do extremely basic things thanks to her colleges brief teachings of it, but still, it was something.

"Good, i need the profiles of all the workers updated and ready for review by today, all the information you need is here." He tapped the screen lightly on a folder shortcut.

Claire's eyes involuntarily shot wide open. _That was around 60 people!_

"Captain wait i-"

"Is there a problem, Dear heart?" he asked, slowly closing the space between the two. Claire blushed heavily.

"I.. i.. uh.." Claire stuttered out, noticing that they were now very close together.

Wesker slowly bent down to her ear and whispered, "I will be here all day if you need absolutely anything, Dear heart."

Claire swallowed thickly and nearly let out an audible 'Eep' when she thought she felt a subtle brush on his lips on her ear lobe. Her entire face was practically going red.

"O-okay.." Claire stuttered out, her eyes slowly closing to mere slits.

Wesker smiled in arrogance while her eyes closed and pulled back, seeing how she was a bit nervous. How cute.

"Please, have them done before 12 PM my dear." he said. "I must go out on a run now to clear my head, will you be alright?" he asked, still smiling down at her.

"Yeah.." she wasn't quite sure if she would be, but the colour in her cheeks told her heart to say absolutely anything to get the man out and Claire into a cold shower.

Wesker nodded and slowly pressed his lips to the top of her forehead. She shivered as she felt all warm focus on that one spot on her head, and just like that, he was out the door.

Claire sighed and looked back at Wesker's 'locked to guest' laptop screen and bachelor pad-esque decorated home. Even though that sweet and gentle kiss felt so nice and warm against her head, she couldn't help but morn her Saturday, for it was undeniably ruined.

As she sat down to type the god foresaken profile breakdowns, not once did Albert Wesker leave her mind.

And for once, that was alright.

* * *

**For anyone that thinks i'm making Claire way too soft and sensitive and a boy crazed - especially Wesker - fangirl, i apologize. I'm trying to convey how young she is and not fully understanding of certain things are in her life, so a little ignorant to the things im sure most of us know. Don't worry, Claire wont be like this for much longer, she'll wise up to Wesker eventually**

**How are you guys liking it so far? Thank you SO much to the people who reviewed and made me feel better and more confident to write this !**


	4. Chapter 4: The Study

**: Chapter 4 - The Study :**

* * *

Claire had always been quite a curious person, though Chris just described it as being nosey, which wasn't really wrong.

Being in Weskers actual home was very interesting indeed though, and she felt her curiosity get the better of her as she felt she needed to use the bathroom and had no idea where it was, and she was alone so.. why not snoop around? if he got back and caught her, she could just say she was looking for the bathroom. Not like it wasn't a lie. Besides, its not like she was looking to steal anything, she just wanted to.. look around really.

Immediately she went upstairs, figuring the biggest bathroom was up there. She huffed as she located the bathroom almost immediately, figuring the couldn't use the '_i couldn't find it_' excuse, but decided to continue down the hall and snoop a bit more anyway. There was a guest bedroom turned storage room of sorts that housed a lot of papers to the left of the bathroom, but it didn't interest her. She saw Wesker's bedroom was to the right of the bathroom, but only caught a glimpse of the mahogany bed and blood red throw over. She didn't want to really go into the bedroom anyway, in case she disturbed something and he noticed.

Though what really caught her attention was the room at the end of the hall, which had its door thrown wide open. As she approached it, she saw it was.. an office? It had a desk to the back of the room, and 2 full book cases to either side. The desk was extremely well kept but.. _Wait, what the heck is that?_

As she walked over to the desk, she squinted at what she found; a petri dish with a weird looking green fungi inside it. She titled her head in confusion at the item. _Why the hell does he have that in an office?_ He hardly had someone he was doing a science experiment with maybe? maybe a cousin or something? because he was definitely a single man. Not a single aspect of his home said _'family'_.

Or was this maybe for him? but.. that didn't make any sense. Maybe he just liked to.. grow fungi? Yeah _that_ makes sense. Out of curiosity, she went to pick up the dish, but yelped as she felt something scrape her palm. Looking down, she saw that a scalpel of some sorts had scraped quite the gash into her right palm. Grimacing at the pain, she licked the blood from the spot and hissed at the sting, but her eyes flew wide open when she saw that a few droplets of her blood had gotten onto the desk, as well as _on_ the fungi.

"Oh shit!" she hissed between clenched teeth, but just as she was about to clean it up, she heard the front door open.

In an instant, she tip toed out of the study and into the bathroom. As she tiptoed out, she thought she heard a faint fizzing noise from the study but ignored it. She immediately flushed the toilet and ran water over her bloodied palm and dried it on a piece of toilet paper she then flushed. Sighing, she walked out of the bathroom and back down stairs.

Though as soon as she came into the kitchen, she saw him leaning over the counter, eating an apple reading over her work on the screen, shirtless.

Claire really tried to hide the blush that crossed her cheeks when she saw him but it was useless. His chest and stomach were perfectly lined with muscles. It was just how she imagined it, his skin was the perfect tone and heightened how perfect and well chiseled his torso was. She was staring and she knew it, so she quickly averted her gaze to the screen he was watching.

"Dear heart, nearly finished?" he asked, turning his gaze to her.

Claire opened her mouth and it took her a minute to get the words out, but eventually they came, "Y-yeah, just about half way."

Wesker nodded and walked to the fridge to get a bottle of water, taking a sip before closing it and putting it back in. "Good, you have another 4 hours so i trust that will be sufficient time?"

Claire nodded and smiled reassuringly. "Yes Captain, i will be able to get it done."

"Good." said Wesker as he walked over to her, gently placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing it ever so slightly. Her blushing apparent to him. "I must go have a shower, if you need me i will be down in about 20 minutes."

"Okay." Claire said as he walked to the stairs. Claire swallowed thickly and walked back to the computer, typing out the rest of the information and hoping to god that Wesker didn't go into his study.

* * *

Claire groaned. It was 11:05 am and she was officially finished printing off the reports. "I'm finished with the reports Captain." she called to the man who was relaxing on his couch watching the news.

She heard Wesker shuffling and he then appeared from the room. Maybe it was just Claire, but it was just plain weird not seeing him in STARS attire. He was dressed rather nicely, in a black turtleneck and black pants, but it was still strange not to see the STARS logo appear at least once. She snickered internally, all he was missing was the smoking pipe and 2 hot blondes and he could of passed for a young Hugh Hefner. Well, younger looking anyway. Okay maybe Heff's good looking best friend.

"Good, good. Come then, i must be going, i will bring you to the RPD and you can drop off the reports." he said as he fiddled with the sleeves of his turtleneck.

"You have to work today?" Claire asked as he turned off his laptop and guided her from the house.

"No, i have a social outing planned with an acquaintance for today." he stated as he unlocked his car, opening the passenger door for her to sit in. _He couldn't of just said that he was hanging out with a friend_? No, this was Wesker, hardly anything was easy and straightforward.

As he started up the car and backed out of the drive way, not missing how she immediately busied herself with the papers in her lap. "I must say." he chimed in, breaking her from her trance. "You have done quite well this week Dearheart, better than i expected." He was sure a little stroke to her ego would go far when trying to make her fall for him. He nearly smirked when he caught Claire blush.

"Thank you sir, i really like the work." _Well, a little white lie couldn't hurt_ she thought.

"Will you be with us for the remainder of the summer my dear?" he asked her as he slowed his car at a red light.

"Yes sir, if you think i'm doing that good a job." she answered with a smile. "Wesker will do fine Claire." he answered. "You are not my subordinate, you are my helping hand, and Wesker will do fine."

Claire nodded at him slowly and he then drove off as soon as the light turned green. _I thought i was the _stations_ secretary._

"There is a retreat of sorts for the department in 1 week, Dearheart." Wesker said a few moments later.

"Oh yeah, Chris told me about that." she said to him as she fiddled more with the papers in her lap. "You're going to the training college up state to recruit rookies for the RPD right? and you and the STARS have to give a talk to them and you hired who ever does well in training?" she asked, knowing the information was right but at the same time, would like confirmation.

"That is correct Dearheart, however i will be requiring your assistance that week, so i will be asking you to attend with me then, is that clear?" He asked in a deceitfully questioning tone. The way he said it definitely didn't sound like a question to her anyway.

"Yes si- ..Wesker, i can come up that week i'm sure." she said as she felt the car come to a stop.

"Very good Miss Redfield, good day." he said as she undid her seatbelt and opened the car door. "Thanks for dropping me off Wesker, i appreciate it." she said genuinely thankful for his assistance.

"Not a problem my dear." he said, stretching across the seat and closing her door before speeding off down the road.

_Great, now i have to walk home!_

Claire walked into the department and placed the files in Chief Irons IN box located just outside his office and huffed. Her job had literally taken her around 6 hours to do and the delivery took about 2 minutes, now she had to walk home which was about 7 miles all the way across town. She nearly squealed with relief and joy when she heard Jill's voice down the hall. _My savior! _

"I'll get you next time Barry, don't worry!" Jill shouted at a triumphant looking, but quite sweaty Barry as the 2 emerged from the RPD gym. "Jill, wait up!" Claire shouted from down the hall, adopting a jog as she went.

"Hey Claire bear, no Chris today?" she asked, generally confused as to why she was even in on a Saturday, only logical reason being that Chris was somewhere close. "Nope, Captain Wesker needed me to drop off files for him to the Chief, and i just finished so i guess i'm walking home now."

She said it so nonchalantly that she hoped to god that Jill would jump in and offer her a lift, which thankfully, she did. "Your house is all the way across town, nu-uh you''re catching a ride with me!"

Claire could of squealed all over again. "Aw man, i owe you one Jill!" she said, enveloping her friend in a tight hug.

"Naaw." said Barry from behind them. "Ain't that sweet. While you girls hug it out and talk about your feelings, i need a shower." he said as he walked away.

"Damn straight you do, you smell like Chris' old gym bag!" she shouted to him.

"Chris' old gym bag?" Claire asked in curiosity. Jill giggled. "A month ago, Chris thought someone stole his gym bag, and a few days ago we found it in one of the storage closest's, its been marinading in his sweat for an entire month."

"Eeeww Jill i didn't need to know that!" Claire said, disgusted just imagining the smell. Jill laughed at her and shook her gently. "Come on! we best get going, i need to swing by my apartment and take a shower, mind staying over a bit while i change?"

"No problem, ill find some way to entertain myself." Claire said with a wink, and with that, the two women exited the building.

"Don't you dare mess up my DVD's again!" Jill shouted to her as they hopped in her car.

Claire snickered and stuck on her seatbelt as Jill started up the car. "I promise nothing."

* * *

"So whats the deal with you two anyway?" Jill asked as she brushed out her damp hair, looking in the mirror at both her hair and Claire who was sitting behind her on her bed, going through her photo album.

"Me and Wesker?" Claire asked, generally confused. She hadn't accidentally voiced one of her many silent flirtations, had she?

"I saw you got a ride in with him on the way out of the gym, how'd that work out?" she asked as she tied her hair up in a makeshift ponytail.

"He called me this morning at fucking 6 am and made me go to his house and type reports." she growled , rubbing her head as she finished. "I have a huge headache from being up and working from 6 am, i need a nap." she groaned dramatically and fell back on the bed, letting the album fall beside her.

"Wait.. you were at his house?" Jill asked in near wonder, now turning to look her friend in the eye, though her lying down did make it hard. Claire raised her head slightly in curiosity of Jill's surprise at her statement. "Yeah and? Not like you and the guys haven't been there i'm sure."

"Well yeah but.. that was after like a year of knowing him, and even then he was really weary of having us there!" she explained, almost sounding a little frustrated that Claire was welcomed into his home after just 1 week, while his team mates were only introduced much later. Though this fact wasn't lost on Claire, and it did make her blush at the thought of Wesker trusting her.

_And yet you snooped in his office and probably ruined that fungi thingy or whatever he was working on._

"Jill, does Wesker like science or something?" Claire said, shifting the subject matter of their conversation, which made Jill tilt her head in confusion.

"Uh.. no idea to be honest, why?" Jill asked

Claire thought about it for a moment. What if Wesker having an interest in molds and fungi was just a weird little hobby the man had to keep himself sane from the endless days of screaming at his team? What if it was something private that nobody knew about, just a stress reliever? Sure he was a little old to be growing that kind of stuff for fun, but who was Claire to judge? After all, her hobbies included drawing and collecting spare motorcycle parts that she could possibly use in the future on her very own little baby.

She smirked at the thought, and decided that if Claire's most precious little hobby was shared with anyone in the world, they'd surely laugh, and she didn't think it was her place to tell anyone else Wesker's business.

"Nothing.. he just kind of gives off that science-y vibe.."

Jill snorted. "Yeah, right. The day i see Wesker in a lab coat is the day i throw on a tight latex suit and serve the man his beakers like a butler."

Claire burst out laughing and picked up a throw pillow on the bed to muffle her laughter. "Jesus the day i see that i'm disowning you as my best friend!"

Jill winked at her playfully as she saw tears form in her eyes. "Just because i know how to work it."

"Oh Jill, being best friends means i'd be right there to laugh at you along side Chris."

"Please, Chris would be doing something very different to laughing-"

Jill was just caught off by the sudden impact of her pillow to her face. Scoffing and throwing Claire a dirty look, she could of laughed at Claire's disgusted face. "Spare me the details!" she practically shouted as Jill engaged in her own laughing fit.

* * *

Umbrella's Saturday meetings regarding places on teams and new teams being formed for a study were always sort, sweet, and to the point, never being too drawn out or time eating, which was quite nice, but still an inconvenience to Albert Wesker and his downtime on Saturdays.

The room was full of chatter as the 16 applicants (Including Wesker and a rather jumpy Birkin) as well as James Marcus were preparing to hear who was accepted into the Progenitor study.

While Wesker was calm and collected as he sat at the huge conference table, William Birkin, who was to his left, anxiously sipped his 3rd cup of coffee in anticipation for Marcus' announcement. He scoffed as he poured himself a 4th, "Damn coffee is weak as hell again."

"Any particular reason you require 4 cups of coffee at nearly 1 PM?" Wesker asked over his shoulder, not taking his eyes away from Marcus who stood up at the podium, shuffling notes.

"Sherry had a nightmare about monsters or.. something, and slept with me and Annette last night, and neither of us got a wink since she was kicking us all night." he growled as he opened the pot to see if all the coffee had properly blended with the hot water.

"Ah, the list in favor of raising a child receives yet another reason." he answered sarcastically. Birkin had only fueled Wesker's hatred of Children with his wonderous tales of Sherry crying, screaming, kicking or complaining. Granted, a grand majority of those complaints were ranted off to Wesker when Sherry was about 6 months old, but they were still reasons. Wesker was perfectly content being the rather absent god father to the child, occasionally having to buy the odd stuffed animal for a birthday was about the only length he was willing to go through for any child on the planet, and it was going to say that way.

"You know, to have kids, you have to meet a woman that can stand you first." William quipped before going back to stirring his coffee.

"Not necessarily, but I've already grown tired of the subject." thus, Wesker ended the conversation. Just in time too since Marcus had just cleared his throat, signalling anyone standing up to take their seats.

"I'm glad you could all make it here today applicants, and i'd just like to say before i announce the names for the study, that absolutely all of you were brilliant candidates, and that if you did not make it aboard the study, there will be other opportunities."

Wesker inaudibly sighed. This study was definitely going to eat up time, and what little he had to spare between the B virus and STARS would definitely put a finish to any recreational time he had. Though he knew that the study would be enlightening, and could hopefully contribute to the B strains study.

"So the scientists we have chosen are as follows.." Marcus trailed off, quickly flickering through papers to check names. "Head of research will be Doctor Elizabeth Matthews."

Wesker nearly rolled his eyes. Everyone in the damn company knew that she was only picked because they were sleeping together, but he let it go. She wasn't exactly an idiot, and was an excellent botanist so he let it go with the knowledge that her being chosen was 70% sleeping with the head researcher and 30% brains.

"And her team will be Doctor Edward Manningham, Doctor Jason Fielding, Doctor Gregory McCormack.." All names Wesker was familiar with, but wasn't too familiar with. Though Jason specialized in chemical's, he had no idea what Edward or Gregory were skilled in. Something he'd have to look into later.

"Doctor William Birkin and finally Doctor George Ericson." Marcus finished. William nearly dropped his mug from shock, more so from the shock that Wesker wasn't accepted and he was.

Wesker merely raised an eyebrow at the situation. While he sat there staring at the man shaking hands with the 5 scientists and then turning to talk to Elizabeth, he couldn't help himself when he suddenly sprang from his chair and made a beeline for him. William swallowed nervously and placed a hand on his friends shoulder as he came to stand. "Woah woah Al, what are you gonna say to him?!" William asked nervously, knowing full well what he was capable of when he was well and truly angry.

"Nothing of importance." Wesker seethed as he abruptly shook off Williams hand and walked over to Marcus.

Elizabeth let out a little _Eep_ noise when she spotted Wesker and instantly backed away and turned to another co-worker. Marcus, having his back to Wesker was only confused with Elizabeth, but got his answer when he turned.

"Doctor Wesker." Marcus greeted as he turned. James wasn't exactly afraid of Albert Wesker, he was one of the best apprentices he had, but god did he intimidate him.

"Why wasn't i accepted onto the study." Wesker asked between clenched teeth, his tone low, almost making it sound like a statement rather than a question. He knew in his heart and soul that this study needed him, and that it wouldn't get anywhere significant without him. 3 out of the 4 most successful studies Umbrella had, had Wesker on the team, and he was the very reason they were successful.

"Why haven't i seen anything substantial on the B-Strain Doctor Wesker?" He answered quickly.

Wesker growled in frustration. "You have me running around Raccoon City playing Cops and Robbers all day without any laniency in regards to paperwork or hours, and you have the audacity to ask how i'm not handing you hourly updates?" he spat.

"Being in STARS, keeping Chief Irons off our backs, and steering the force away from us, is your work Doctor Wesker, as well as the B-strain study, i expect results without the significant aid of Doctor Birkin by the end of the week, before the STARS field trip, and then i will consider you for the progenitor study."

"Oh spare me of your pity." Wesker spat as he turned and walked away from him, towards Will who was being congratulated by Greg.

"Did you tell Marcus that i haven't been able to do as significant work as you lately?" Wesker hissed in his ear from behind.

William turned a shade paler and shook his head furiously. "No way! i'd never say a word Al!"

"Then Marcus is fucking psychic i guess." Wesker spat as he walked out of the conference room, leaving a very scared William Birkin behind. William had only counted exactly 2 times Wesker had cursed, once being when Sherry, only 16 months at the time, knocked a full piping hot cup of coffee on him, hissing the curse under his breathe, and the other being a time when Chris Redfield had blown off training because of a hangover.

William swallowed the lump in his throat and decided Wesker clearly needed time to cool off, but this wasn't over.

* * *

Wesker ignored William's 70 calls when he got home that afternoon, deciding to completely skip out on STARS paperwork. That could wait till monday. STARS was, as of let, getting all of his attention, which he didn't like one bit.

No, this weekend would be all about the B strain and its complete and utter revival into one of his greatest pieces of work yet. Though as he sat at his desk and noted that nothing was out of place, something was off.

nothing seemed touched, and though his office had a different air to it. Shrugged, he picked up the petrie dish and suddenly froze it in midair. He squinted as he noticed a very small drop of blood on the desk, and when he looked closer at the dish, he noticed a small speck of blood dried on the wall.

_Curious_. Wesker hadn't tested his own blood on the virus at all yet, since it hadn't reached that stage, but nobody could of possibly had access to his home si-

Weskers frown suddenly turned into a very devious smile. _My Dear Heart explored while i was out._ Unsure of how she even got blood in the sample, he was amused all the same, and decided, for pure entertainment, he was see what the effects were to the virus. he took 5 new beakers and spread the virus evenly between them, labelled them each according to what method of testing he would use on them and got to work, inspecting the first beakers sample under the microscope. He chuckled as he thought of his dear heart creeping through the house, thinking only god knew what.

His chuckling abruptly stopped though when he noticed that the virus was not attacking Claire's blood, but in fact had melded with it. _Accepted_ it.

Pulling his head back, he gave a rather confused glare at the sample. _And what exactly makes Claire Redfield so special?_ he thought to himself as he opened his desk drawer and pulled out Claire's information sheet from her job application. His eyes glided over all the insignificant information and landed on one particular line.

_Blood Type: AB Negative._

Wesker smirked ever so slightly. Of course she would have such a rare blood type. This was good though, he had finally found a blood type to meld with B, but B was rather watered down when it came to abilities. William and Wesker's aim for B was to give the person super human strength, but had to significantly tone it down when the cells attacked the hosts cells so aggressively, but now that Wesker had the perfect test subject, he could slowly add these cells back in, being able to pin point the exact moment the cells would become to much.

_Ah, my Dearheart, you're just full of surprises._

* * *

**Sorry this took a while to get out, hope you had a good christmas!**

**The STARS trip thing i have been looking forward to writing, because i have certain things planned for it**

**Im hoping to get more into the whole WeskerxClaire thing soon so please be patient since its moving slow rn LOL**


	5. Chapter 5: A date?

**: Chapter 5 - A Date? :**

* * *

Monday after her first break, Claire concluded, was the most boring time of her week.

It was between now and the long lunch break that the STARS would be up in their office reviewing cases of interest developing in the city with the Alpha and Bravo Captains, while the Raccoon police officers were down in the gym doing required self defense with one of the sectors own captains, or out on patrol.

Monday at this time also seemed to be crime free in Raccoon as so far, no offenders were brought in at this time, which meant that aside from Chief Irons occasional appearance to get a sign in sheet, or Wesker asking for a coffee or his messages, Claire was left with the silence of the reception, and her own imagination.

Tapping the top of her pen on the stations journal, glancing down at the following weeks giant yellow sticky note that read "RCPD Recrutment Trip.", she sighed. Once the morning was over and all sign ins were put into the system and accounted for, Claire was left with little to do. Note to self, start spreading out the sign-in work.

Claire leaned back in her chair and began drawing the apple she had left on her desk for lunch time. Her teacher had recommended that she always draw what was in front of her in her spare time, and this qualified in her book. Since she only had a black pen at her disposal, she opted to do a quick sketch with basic lined shading, but got so into the thickness of the lines that she didn't notice someone had come from downstairs and was now scrutinizing her work.

"You _drew_ that?" Brad asked in amazement, completely ignorant to the near heart attack he gave Claire. She gasped loudly and glared at her drawing when she noticed that the scare had made her pen fly off the page, creating an out of place mark. Sighing, she looked up and smiled sheepishly at Brad. "Yeah, i was just bored."

Brad smirked and leaned on the counter, making Claire eye him curiously. "Is there something you needed Brad?"

"Enrico sent me down to get a copy of the statement from the drunk guy on thursday." he said as he watched Claire type away on the computer. Brad had to be the one STARS member Claire didn't know all too well, well, she didn't really know Bravo too well period, aside from Enrico who, surprisingly had an interest in motorcycles, and Rebecca, who was really good friends with Jill.

Though Brad was cute, Claire did find that with hanging out with the guys last week for lunch, Brad was a little bit arrogant, all bark and no bite really. She hadn't much of an interest in a guy who couldn't stand his ground, but at least he wasn't about to ask her out or anything.

"So i know Chris would kill me if he ever found out i even said this, buut.. " Brad trailed off, a smirk on his face. Claire kept a false smile on her face but internally she was rolling her eyes and banging her head against the desk, rejecting guys was never fun.

"You doing anything tomorrow?" he finished.

"I am actually, i'm going to the drive in with Jill and Chris." she said, trying to sound sorry but it was pretty hard considering she wasn't even slightly apologetic, especially since tonight she was seeing a zombie movie Chris and Claire had been looking forward to for ages. Brad's mouth made the shape of an O, and simply dipped his head.

Claire glanced over as she heard the printer beginning to chug out the copy of the thursday's report of said drunk man that was dragged into the station by Barry. She couldn't think of any actual reason why Enrico would actually need a statement from a drunk guy but thought nothing of it as she shuffled the papers into place and put a paperclip onto the sheets.

She nearly cringed when she handed the papers to a mortally wounded Brad. _God he looks like Bambi after seeing his mother get shot, throw the poor guy a bone!_ "But i'm free tonight? its a little short notice.."

"That's perfect! I'll pick you up around 6?" he asked gleefully.

"Uh.. okay." Claire said, really unsure of what exactly just happened. "Where are we-"

"I'll surprise you!" he said before dashing off back to the offices, probably realizing he had taken too much time.

"Oh _great_." Claire moaned as she crumpled up the drawing and threw it in the bin. "Monday, date, and get my ass kicked when i get home."

* * *

"Hmm.." Enrico mumbled as he flipped through the statement. All of the Stars were seated in a circle around a whiteboard with the two captains standing.

"The man, Peter Davis, while intoxicated, is our 7th mention of a clearly abused and rabid animal."

Wesker walked over to the white board and circled a large area with a red marker. "We've had 5 sightings of bloodied and aggressive dogs located on the outskirts of Raccoon, close enough to the Arklay Mountains." Wesker drew an X over near the mountain rage. "And 2 sightings of bloodied wolves that were not aggressive, but in serious pain, close enough to the forest located near the mountains to the west." another X was drawn.

"So why is STARS handling this?" asked Jill quietly. "This is a case for the Raccoon Animal Rescue, isn't it?"

Wesker sighed and nodded in agreement. "Precisely Miss Valentine, but Chief Irons simply _insists_ that there's more to these cases, when we all know that there isn't."

"More to the cases, sir?" Barry asked this time, leaning forward in his chair ever so slightly. Wesker rolled his shoulders and scoffed. "Chief Irons' imagination is clearly getting the better of him Mr Burton, i see no reason why these wild animals are a STARS affair, or even this departments affair for that matter, but alas, when i am ordered to research and solve a case, there's nothing i can do."

Chris scoffed. "Great, so we're all part of this special tactics division for the police and Chief Irons is having us chase around a few dogs for the pound?"

Wesker shook his head. "_Believe_ _me, _Mr Redfield, i don't relish the idea anymore so than you, but there is nothing i can do. Chief Irons has labelled this is a suspicious matter, so we must proceed as if it were suspicious." he said with clear hate.

If Chief Irons borrowed too deeply into this matter, it would be Wesker's head Umbrella would have on a platter. The dogs were tests subjects they had been testing the very early stages of the Transentic Virus - Or T-Virus for short - on, and had clearly been careless with their disposal, though the wolves he had no idea about. Umbrella only used Rabbits, Dogs or very rarely, Monkeys when testing, not anything as big as a wolf. That would be something he would have to inquire about.

Still though, he could always lead the STARS as far away from the hot spots to avoid them locating any of the infected animals as possible. Then it would only be a matter of waving off the whole matter and moving on, no harm no foul to Umbrella or the department, considering the infected animals hadn't actually killed anybody, and the only dog that had managed to harm anyone was the drunk man on Thursday who got a bite on the leg, but he was heavily intoxicated, so it wouldn't of taken much convincing to either Peter Davis or his team that the man could of instigated the attack.

Enrico scoffed as he threw the statement into an Out box by the small table in front of Wesker's office. "We'll set up a new patrol route that covers the 2 areas where the animals were spotted, and put out a warning to the animal shelters near by, that's all we can afford time to." the Bravo Captain explained to the members. "That's all for today then, feel free to go for lunch." and with that, the meeting was over.

Wesker was about to head back to his office when Enrico approached him. "I think we should say something to the Chief about this Wesker, with the additional patrol routes and all the new cases, the guys can't take anymore."

Wesker made a 'hmm' sound and nodded. "I agree Enrico, a point i have made to the Chief, but he refuses to listen."

Enrico shook his head. "They're all doing over time in there already, and now this, what i wouldn't say to the Chief if i had a free pass."

"It is a temporary annoyance Captain Marini, Chief Irons merely wants us to check for monsters in the closet, once we have confirmation that the dogs are of no actual threat, which we know they're not, he'll let it go."

"For the sake of the teams sanity, i sure hope so." he finished, walking out of the offices to take lunch with the team at Emmy's. Wesker was just closing the door to his office when he heard a light tap on his door. He smirked when he saw Claire's red hair and waved her in.

"Dear heart, to what do i owe the pleasure?" he greeted as she stepped into his office with a piping hot coffee in one hand and the black date journal in the other. Her smile was always welcome after such long meetings with the team.

"Your coffee captain." she said as she placed the mug in front of him. "And your messages." she cleared her throat as she opened the book, preparing the read them allowed. "Captain Oliviera wants to move our arrival from 7 in the morning to 8, he didn't give an exact reason." Wesker nodded.

"And a James Marcus called asking for you to get back to him about his dog." Wesker's eyes snapped up to Claire, seeing her slightly confused expression, but it was fleeting. "That's all your messages then Captain." Claire finished as she dipped her head. "Thank you Claire." he excused her, and she promptly left the office to catch up with Chris and Jill who were probably already at Emmy's ordering there food.

However she had failed to notice how slightly pale Wesker had gone. Marcus had never called the station. Ever. And he had clearly left a threat about the dogs. That could only mean that, that pig Irons was getting too close, and if it had to be either him or Irons, there was no choice. He would not risk all his work for a hard headed Chief that barely left his damn office, let alone would do any of the investigation himself. The man was getting too close to the glass, and Wesker knew that if Marcus had actually used a threat, he both had to tear Chief Irons down a peg or two, and had to talk with Marcus about the damn dogs escaping in the first place.

Wesker ran his fingers through his hair in a show of frustration, but left it there. The B strain was looking quite good so far, and with that little project for Umbrella coming to its testing stages, he wasn't going to allow anything to put him in a sour mood, even this little message from Marcus. Completely ignoring the coffee his dear heart had prepared for him, he picked up his office phone and dialed Marcus' number.

"_James Marcus._" the other line greeted. "The dog will be sufficiently cared for, you needn't worry about it any longer." he stated and hung up.

And with that taken care of, he picked up his coffee and took a long sip, relishing the bitter taste. Nothing was going to dampen his mood, especially how James Marcus had officially given him the green light to say anything necessary to the dog in question, the Chief of the department, and he wouldn't pass up his _'free pass'_ - as Enrico had put it - for anything.

Though the idea of going down to Irons office and ruining his lunch was quite appealing, he was quite hungry himself, so he decided to leave the screaming match until after his lunch. Though as he reached into his bag, he failed to feel the tupperware box he brought his lunch in, and as he looked down, found it was completely missing. Figuring he must of forgotten about it completely in a bid to finish the report for Marcus, he scoffed.

Now there was only damned option for food, and it was definitely not appealing in the least.

* * *

"Claire, what happened to that orange sleeping bag we had?" Chris asked as he chewed on his hamburger, sitting beside Barry and opposite Claire and Jill. Jill was in a heated debate over the most effective gun in terms of accuracy, with Chris joining in here and there, but stopped when he noticed Claire silently pushing around the fries that were on her plate.

"It got chewed up by my Stephanie's dog when i was at her house a few weeks ago, why?" Claire asked, a little afraid that he was mad about it. "Oh, no reason, i need a sleeping bag for that trip next weekend then, could you grab me one the next time you go grocery shopping? i'll pay you back." he said with a smirk, which Claire returned. "Sure you will."

After a few moments silence, Chris just couldn't hold it in. "Is there something wrong, you've been quiet since we got here."

Claire opened her mouth, more so in surprise than to actually say something, but then shook her head with a sheepish laugh. "Me? no way! Just.. wish today was over, Monday's suck." _And Brad coming over later for what's sure to be the worlds most awkward date is sure to keep the Mondays Suck notion going. _Really thinking about it now, Claire was kicking herself for not just saying no. She really wasn't looking forward to Chris' reaction upon his arrival at their door tonight, but maybe if she didn't say anything, she could play Brad coming over off as a silly 'I was in the neighborhood!' type of deal. And a _'so can i go out with your sister?' _thing aswell. Tonight was going to be hell one way or another with Chris. Might as well enjoy him in a good mood while it lasts.

Chris snickered. "Tell me about it, and i have patrol tonight with Jill which makes Monday never ending." he sighed. "Can you get home yourself tonight? maybe with Jill? and before you even suggest it, Barry has to take the girls to ballet classes all the way across town so i can't ask him again."

_God, not having a car is such a pain in the ass_. "Yeah, i'm sure i can get her for a ride home, don't worry about me." she said with a reassuring smile, picking up a french fry and munching on it as she stared out the window. "If you can't, can you call me from the office? i get a break around 8 so i could take you home then, worst case scenario."

Claire nodded, swallowing the french fry as she turned her attention back to him from the window. "So about the trip next week, what do you think i-" Claire was cut off when she caught sight of a tall blonde man at the cash register to the far right of her, paying for a dinner. "Holy shit is that the Captain?" Barry asked in plain disbelief.

"Since when does he come to Emmy's?!" Jill piped in, all four staring the man out of it. Brad, from the booth beside them peeped his head out and let his jaw hang wide open. "No. Fucking._ Way._"

"Didn't the Captain say that all they served here was, and i quote, _'greasy slop?'_" Joseph said to the group, but felt himself freeze when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Did i say that?" Wesker asked in curiosity. His hand tightened a fraction on Josephs shoulder, which made him flinch. "Well, their baked Salmon doesn't seem too greasy." he commented, glancing down at his food with little interest.

"Hey Captain, want to sit down?" Barry asked, gesturing to the empty spot beside Claire. "Rebecca has medical training at the college on Monday's, so theirs a spot for you."

Wesker inwardly sighed, but supposed there was no harm in sitting with his team mates, and why would he pass up the chance to see what Claire was like in a more social setting? For that reason more than anything, he sat with his meal and took off his sunglasses, placing them in his shirt collar.

"Sooo.. " Chris started off, a little awkwardly, but it was something. "Barry, got any extra duffel bags going around? you know, for next week."

"Chris, i already said i had one for you at home." Claire commented with a little bit of frustration in her voice. "Claire, all your bags are purple, i'd rather just have something a bit more.. me."

"Chris its a colour!" Claire protested, giving her brother a glare. Barry chuckled and slapped Chris on the shoulder. "I have a spare one going around, and its black, is that colour good enough for you?" Chris nodded and chuckled back. "Yeah, blacks more me!"

Wesker smirked as he cut off a piece of fish and ate it, not too disappointed with the taste since he expected pure greased up slop as he'd commented before. Chris noticed this and spoke up. "What? you're the only one who can pull off black?" he asked.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Now now Chris, don't go trying to pick petty fights." Wesker commented, not looking up from his food to meet the mans stare. Everyone expected Chris to bite back with something, but to everyone's surprise, he merely rolled his eyes and sat back, picking at the remaining fries on his plate.

"So what exactly_ is_ next week all about?" Claire asked out of the blue, kind of surprising herself that she even found the courage to talk with the dick measuring going on at the table, but the question seemed to knock both Wesker and Chris out of it, as they directed their attention to her.

"Deart heart, the department requires tha-"

"Oh for the love of god." Chris hissed. "Can you _please_ stop calling my sister that name? you sound like a pervert!"

Everyone at the table cringed in sync, even the members in the next both when they heard him.

Wesker lifted his gaze from Claire to Chris, who practically had steam coming out of his ears. "Excuse me?" Wesker asked, his voice low and almost threatening. Everyone knew that it was the calmness that Wesker exhibited during these little arguments set Chris off even more, but it was the fact that they all knew Wesker wasn't being arrogant in his knowledge of being superior that he was showing off this time, but he seemed frustrated himself.

And Claire just _had_ to be in the middle of it.

"You heard me! I hate the fact that you have that little pet name for her and you have do everything for you, its fucking demeaning."

"Chris its just a name! and i'm a receptionist, i help him and Chief Irons!" Claire interjected, but stopped dead in her tracks when Wesker lifted a hand to stop her.

"I believe its none of your concern what i do or don't call Miss Redfield." Wesker shot back. In her minds eye Claire held a hammer in both of her hands and was beating herself to death, to mirror the pain of having to sit through this conversation.

"Its fucking my concern when its my sister!" he practically yelled, gaining him a few stares from people in surrounding booths. This was getting out of hand, all over a damn pet name.

"Stop Christopher, you're embarrasing yourself and the unit." Wesker hissed. When Chris shook his head in frustration and slammed his hands on the table out of pure frustration, he failed to notice how his left hand hit the side of Wesker's plate, and flipped it right into Claire's chest.

There was a loud crack as the plate hit the table hard, and the remains of Wesker's baked fish was squished completely all over Claire's nice work blouse.

Everyone was silent for a moment, even Chris. Hell, Chris just ruined Wesker's dinner and practically threw it at Claire to boot. He was so in for it.

"My office. _10 minutes_." Wesker stated, his voice low and threatening once again, as he abruptly stood and left the diner without another word, ignoring the curious states from his team.

"He's going to murder you." Jill whispered. "Not even figuratively, he is literally going to murder you slowly and painfully."

Chris had no words, he knew Jill was right, but couldn't of been more distraught as he stared at Claire's disgusted expression as she scraped the fish from her pink, grease stained blouse. "Shit Claire i'm so sorry! Christ i'm such an ass." Chris muttered as he grabbed 10 napkins from the table dispenser and began wiping away pieces of fish, but Claire wasn't having it.

"My nice work blouse Chris! i only have 3 of these because they're so damn expensive and now this ones ruined! Jesus christ.." Claire growled as she stood. "You just had to go and start something over nothing!" Claire complained as she blotted the grease, but threw down the napkins in pure frustration and stormed out, heading back to the apartment. Chris knew he had to be back in 10 minutes, but decided to let Claire out first. She was pissed and he definitely wasn't chasing her down the street in her current mood.

Sheesh, and he thought Claire on her period was scary. Chris sunk in his seat. "I'm a fucking idiot." he muttered. Everyone in the booth nodded in agreement. Chris rolled his eyes and sunk even further. "Thanks for the support."

* * *

"Immaturity at its finest." Wesker hissed at Chris, sitting opposite him in his office. Chris hung his head, knowing he had no grounds in this fight. His best bet was to hang his head like a 10 year old in the principles office and hope for the best.

"Not only were you absolutely and undeniably rude and arrogant to your Captain, you were ungentlemanly and plain idiotic in front of your own sister, and you had not the decency to apologize for your own actions immediately."

_You didn't give me a damn chance._ "I sincerely apologize Captain." Chris rattled off, sounding as if the apology was rehearsed and not at all meant. Wesker growled and slammed his fist on the table in a moment of pure rage.

"You lack basic discipline! you act like a damned child at every opportunity! you sulk and you whine when things get difficult! Tell me, what possible positive is there to keeping you aboard the STARS division?!" he yelled.

Chris knew he fucked up badly at Emmy's, but Wesker was seriously threatening to fire him over it? Chris was sure he had gone completely pale before Wesker had even finished his sentence, absolutely petrified with fear.

"What kind of damn role model are you? for anyone?!" he continued. "You're off the damn recruitment trip next week." he glared when Chris opened his mouth to argue. "And i swear if their a single word of complaint, i'll have you off the damn force, you hear me?!"

Chris swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. "Yes Captain, i understand."

"Get out of my sight." Wesker hissed as he leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "For the day." he added. "I can't stand the sight of you anymore today, your patrol will be covered by Barry, and as an apology to him, you will take all of his patrols _as well as_ your own for the next month."

Chris gritted his teeth. "Yes Captain."

"Out." Wesker finished, standing to see Chris out. As he stood in front of the door, turning back to hear Wesker's final words. "And if this is repeated, the consequences will be your termination of this job." Wesker then slammed the door and returned to his desk, growling at the headache that Chris generated.

Chris simply stood in the now silent office, not missing the sympathetic stares the team gave him. He gave a small smile and grabbed the coat from behind his chair. "Barry, you have my patrol tonight, but don't worry ill bring your daughters to ballet."

Barry was going to say something but nodded with a sympathetic smile. "Sorry you're beign sent home man.. geez he was pretty rough on you."

"You heard?"

"There are people in California who heard." he whispered.

Chris sighed. "Figures."

"Thanks for tonight Chris, and sorry about you getting my patrols."

"Hey, id rather your patrols than being unemployed." he said with a smile, waving to his team mates as he walked out the door, feeling pretty shitty and defeated.

He spotted Claire behind the reception desk in a tank top and one of Jill's work out hoodies he noticed. She must of given it to her to change into. She was chatting with one of the cops from the bull pen, completely oblivious to Chris' presence. As he walked by though, he heard Claire clear her throat.

He thought she was going to ask him to apologize, but all she had was motion to the sign out diary on the desk. "How'd you know.."

"You were going home? Wesker beeped me on the intercom a few minutes ago.. " she said a little quietly. Just as he finished writing the current time, he heard Claire sigh. "I was planning on being mad, but the Captain was pretty harsh on you, so can we call it even?" Claire said, a small apologetic smile on her lips.

Chris breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Claire, you know we're always good." he turned to walk out but stopped as soon as he realized he'd be able to pick her up now. "What time do you get off?" he asked. Claire glanced over to her hours and frowned. "I get off at 5 but Wesker just handed me a pile of files i need to sort for accounting and theirs no way i'm going to be finished with it by then.. besides, Jill said she'd give me a ride home, so you go on home okay?"

Chris nodded. "Alright, later Claire bear."

Claire waved, a little sad at how broken Chris looked. "See ya."

As soon as he was out of the building, Claire's sympathy for Chris sky rocketed and evolved into pure over protectiveness, making Claire 100% ticked off beyond belief at Wesker, and if Redfield's were good at one thing, it was holding a grudge.

* * *

It was 7:47 PM and Claire was pissed. As soon as Chris had left, Claire had stormed up the stairs, and pretending to deliver files to Jill, when really, she was asking for the full story as to what had happened. What she heard only added fuel to the fire. She knew Wesker was a bit of an asshole when she signed up for this job, but this was ridiculous, and plain over kill. Completely oblivious to the fact that Jill was her only means of getting home, she told her that she would get a lift from someone else and told her to go on with patrol.

Jill and Barry were third last to go home within STARS. They had left at around 7 for their patrol. Then Enrico had gone home only 10 minutes ago, and now she was waiting for the Alpha Captain himself.

She tapped her fingers along the shiny marble reception desk, head craned in the direction of the STARS office, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the man himself. Oh was she going to give him an ear full. She had been going over the speech she would give him for a good 2 hours. She was so involved in it in fact, she had talked to Brad on complete autopilot, nodding furiously at whatever the hell he said just to get him to leave her to focus on her rage.

She felt her heart rate go up a notch when she notice the only remaining light in the STARS office be switched off, and just like that, she was up standing, gathering her files and shoving them in to her bag in preparation for this little confrontation. As he walked down the steps, his face as blank as an untouched canvas, Claire felt her panic dissolve back into rage. Remember why you're even doing this!

"Still here Dear heart?" Wesker asked, coming to a stop by her desk. "I sincerely hope the accounting files weren't that much work."

"I had all that done a few hours ago." she said, turning from her bag and looking him dead in the eye- err, sunglasses. _Damn those sunglasses! Its night time for god sake!_

"Then may i ask why you're still here?"

"You, Captain." Shit i hope that wasn't too rude. Oh, fuck being polite, he was an asshole to Chris.

Wesker folded his arms and tilted his head in confusion. "And what can i do for you, Dear heart?"

Claire cleared her throat and sighed. _Now or never._ "You know what? what you said to Chris was really unfair."

Wesker's face didn't change, neither did his posture. That pissed Claire off a little bit. Did he not see that this was serious?

"How so? Its from my understanding that Chris was arrogant to his Captain, ruining a perfectly good, paid for dinner, and unceremoniously threw said dinner at his sisters torso, without so much as an apology to me before i was forced to leave, as he was making a mockery of me."

"A mockery of you? It was a mistake! he got a little angry and he made a mistake! he's not perfect Captain and he said he was sorry to me, and i'm sure he apologized to you too!"

"True, he did apologize to me, but i feel as it if was rather forced and held no meaning." he stated as he took off his sunglasses and scrapped at a mark on the left sides glass.

"Chris did mean it! He looked like someone just shot a puppy and made him watch when he was walking out of here." Wesker smirked inwardly at the thought. "Please Wesker, If you don't take it from Chris take it from me! hes really sorry."

Wesker watched Claire for a minute. She seemed to be furious at the start of this conversation but it had dissolved into something akin to desperation now. Did she really care that much for her dear brother? It seemed a little far fetched to Wesker that anyone would be willing to wait nearly 3 hours after finishing time to attempt to remedy something that was already fixed and wasn't even there problem for the sake of caring, but women did tend to be emotional creatures, in his experience of them anyway.

"Alright Dear heart, i accept Chris' apology, but his punishment remains."

Claire growled in frustration. "But why does he have to take 2 shifts of patrol for the next month? that's fucking unfair!"

Wesker cringed. "_Please_ Dear heart, do refrain from the use of such awful language, it does not suit you."

Claire blushed, almost from embarrassment as she noticed how much he disliked it. _Wait, you're embarrassed that you were 'unlady' like around Wesker? __Really?_

"Sorry." she mumbled. "Just.. it's really unfair Wesker. Chris is going to be beating himself up for the entire month, and he was really looking forward to the trip.. isn't there something-"

"Dear heart if i issue a punishment very rarely do i take it back, all i can do for you is say that i will give thought to the matter, but i can't promise a thing." he stated.

Claire allowed herself a small smile, something that Wesker was almost.. ever so slightly happy he caused. "Thank you Wesker, i really appreciate it."

Wesker nodded and opened the door for her as she zipped up the jacket and walked out into the parking lot, noticing how it was getting dark. "My dear, how do you plan to get home?" Wesker asked

"Um.. " Claire started, entirely unsure of how to finish. "I.. should go back inside and call Chris." she finished with an idiotic smile, but Wesker's chuckle wiped it clean off. "There is no need my dear, i will bring you home, i was heading close to that way anyway to a nearby steak house for something to eat, seeing as how I've only eaten 2 bites of fish today."

Claire giggled and bowed her head in a show of both apology and amusement. "The Black Bull steak house down by Terrace avenue?" she asked, knowing full well the place he was most likely going to. Wesker nodded and opened his car door for her to sit in. "I take it you've been there?" he asked, walking over to his own side.

"They only have the best food ever." Claire mused as she thought of the amazing barbeque sauce they put on the spare ribs there, practically making her mouth water.

"Then please, allow me to treat you dear heart, for all the work you've done, and done so well." he said as he started up the car.

"Oh gosh, i'd love to Wesker.. but Chris will be worried." she said with a frown, since she really was hungry, and now only wanted something barbeque'd.

Wesker pulled out of the parking lot and drove straight through down town, heading over in the direction of the steak house. "We won't be too long i'm sure." he answered, amusement evident from his voice.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, those spare ribs were absolutely amazing." Claire sighed with pure delight as she wiped her face with her napkin of any remaining sauce, "This is my favourite restaurant you know, i barely get to come here anymore."

Wesker took a sip of his water and raised an eyebrow. "And why is that dear heart?"

Claire sighed and smiled, though it in no way reached her eyes. "Too busy with college and when i'm free, Chris or Jill aren't."

Wesker nodded. "I see."

Not wanting to turn the conversation after such a nice meal so depressing, she changed the subject. "Is Steak your favourite food?" she asked, noticing how he had gotten a pretty decently sized T-Bone steak and had had no problem finishing either that or the side of asparagus off.

"It is actually, when its cooked just right." he answered. "I enjoy some Chinese food, but not much."

"Like what?" Claire asked with a smirk. For some reason, Wesker wasn't getting annoyed with Claire's questioning, in fact he found it almost cute. Getting information out of her in the time to come when he had to write the detailed reports for the test at the mansion would be easy. With her, he no longer had to put in any description of effort in so far as socializing with his team mates. No, just her would do.

"I enjoy King Prawn Curry when its perfectly spicy, and on occasion, fried noodles with bamboo." He only ever got Chinese food when he was down in the labs with Birkin. Chinese food was all he ever ordered and Wesker learned pretty fast that Chinese food was the only food Birkin would _ever_ leave the lab to pick up, so he adapted rather fast with the spiciest thing on the menu.

Claire scoffed. "Augh, spicy food." she said with apparent distaste. "But i will give you the fried noodles, that's actually what i always get."

Wesker chuckled. "We'll i will be sure to bring you out to a Chinese restaurant i know of the next time we do this." he said, handing an approaching waiter his credit card and standing from his seat.

"The next time?" Claire asked, a hint of amusement in her voice. "And what exactly _was_ this?" As the 2 approached the cash register, the man handed Wesker a receipt and his card.

"What ever you want to label it as my dear." he commented as he opened the door for Claire to step out. She shook her head and smiled to herself as they walked to Wesker's car. While he was very much so an asshole, he _was_ quite charming. Once again, he opened the passenger door for her. Claire raised an eyebrow at him and smiled even wider. "You're the last of a dying breed." she said as she sat into the car.

"I'm well aware dear heart." he said as he sat into the drivers side.

The journey back to Claire and Chris' house was rather quiet, but it wasn't awkward. Claire was absolutely stuffed from her dinner as she was sure Wesker was, so they opted for silence. She did want to say something to break the silence eventually, but before she knew it, he was turning in for her road. As they came closer to the house though, Wesker noticed Brad Vickers car was in the drive way.

"Strange." Wesker mumbled, but said nothing passed that.

Though beside him, Claire had just had a mini heart attack, absolutely deaf to whatever Wesker had just said. _You idiot! How the hell did you forget?!_

"Thank you so much for dinner Wesker, see you tomorrow!" she got out as quickly as possible before practically jumping out of the car and running up the lawn and into the house.

Wesker huffed, sitting back in his seat. _Curious. _He decided not to put too much thought into it, lest he spoil what was surprisingly a nice night for himself, and did a U-Turn in a beeline for his home. The B-strain called for further infusing, and that was exactly where his mind was at for the night, not with Claire, not with STARS, just his research.

But even when Wesker returned home and engrossed himself in his work, Claire managed to creep up in his mind more than he would of liked, and found that the thoughts he had of her smile and laugh weren't exactly unwelcome anymore. Quite the entertaining little creature she was turning out to be in so many ways.

Curious indeed.

* * *

**Aren't you guys lucky, 2 updates in a week! i know i know you love me! The chapters pretty long, but i badly wanted to fit all this into the one chapter, so that next will be the last chapter before the trip 3**

**I have no idea what the T in T-Virus stands for, its most certainly not Transentic because i made that up (: i'll be doing that for the few strands of viruses i mention in this fic, sorry if that's wrong or sounds dumb ; v;**

**Big bad Wesker, and poor Chris ): So i do have 2 scenarios planned for Chris, one being where hes allowed on the trip and something happens there, or one where hes not allowed on the trip and on patrol he finds something - so id like you guys to have your say! Which punishment should Wesker let him off of? The months Patrol or the ban on the trip? whichever you choose will effect the story in 2 different ways, so choose wisely!**


	6. Chapter 6: Friction and Jealousy

**: Chapter 6: Friction and Jealousy :**

* * *

To say that Claire was mortified was an understatement.

As she sat on the couch, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with poor Brad, and her fuming brother by staring at her hands, she kept imagining what it would be like to fast forward through this inevitable screaming match and just go to sleep. How did she know there was going to be a screaming match? Well, Chris' face was scrunched up in disgust as he paced the length of the room, angrily mumbling to himself.

That wasn't exactly a sign of anything _good_.

Brad looked pretty annoyed, with the slightest hint of fear. He was holding an ice pack on his nose and every know and then he would groan in pain and tip his head back. Claire, once again, allowed her curiosity get the better of her.

"What happened Brad?" she said softly. It was pretty awkward in the sitting room too since when she had walked in to the house, she found Chris holding him against the wall, Brad's mouth and chin covered in blood as he stuttered and stumbled to explain himself. Chris glared at her and practically shoved the two into the room while he paced, leaving the three in silence.

"I got punched." he said bitterly, angrily pointing to his nose that had now stopped gushing blood. He shook his head angrily and held the ice pack up to it again. "You're a fucking psycho Chris." he muttered, his words slightly muffled by the ice pack, but Chris caught it all the same.

"Shut the fuck up Brad, before i punch your eyes out." he seethed, his tone dripping with malice. Brad scoffed, but said nothing more.

Claire sighed, and was just about to speak up when Chris abruptly turned to her and pointed an accusing finger.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Claire?" he shouted at her. Claire and Chris were both awfully stubborn when it came to these screaming matches, and it was all a matter of who got sick of shouting first, but on this, she wouldn't be defeated.

"_Excuse me?_" she hissed back.

"Brad? Going out with fucking Brad?" he asked her, throwing his arms up in question. In the corner of her eye she saw Brad roll his eyes.

"Who the hell are you to decide who i can and can't date?" she shot back. She didn't want to get too defensive about this though, its not like she even wanted this date, it was pity and nothing more to be perfectly honest, but he had no right to tell her what she could or couldn't do.

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and growled. "Claire do you not see what this could do to me?"

"To _you?_" she said in shock. "Chris! not fucking everything is about you!" she roared, now standing to meet him eye to eye. Or almost. Why couldn't she of gotten dad's height?

"It is when its a STARS member Claire! Jesus!" he shouted, glaring holes into the backs of Claire's eyes.

"What?"

"Lets fucking say you and lover boy over here," he pointed accusingly at Brad who was dead focused on this argument. "and you go out, everything's real sunshine and rainbows until you two break up and make shit _really_ fucking awkward between me and him. We can't work together without me being pissed with him and you make life just fucking hard!" he near screamed.

He had a point. As angry and tired as Claire was, she had to admit, he had a point. But that didn't stop her from continuing on with this futile game. "Who the hell do you think you are, forbidding me from dating?" she roared.

He scoffed and was about to counter when Claire cut in. "No, i'm not finished! Brad was just going to take me out to dinner or something, to see how things would go! he wasn't fucking proposing to me so shut the hell up about me ruining your work relationships!"

She mentally slapped herself for going a little off the point and cursing, but wouldn't let it stop her.

Chris suddenly grabbed Claire by the shoulders and shook her, none too gently. "When it comes to STARS." he said low, his tone dead serious. "Don't fucking argue with me. Don't make life hard on me. Don't fucking _belittle_ me in anyway, pretending you know everything and most importantly, don't embarrass me by becoming the office slut and making your rounds with the members."

Claire gasped sharply and shoved him back. Hard. Chris gritted his teeth, he didn't mean to make Claire out to be a slut, he only meant to imply that if she started dating Brad, it could lead to Joseph, or Forest, or Enrico. He shuddered. Or _Wesker_. Then that could make life hard for him when it came to going out for drinks or having the team over to the house, making Claire and the other member awkwardly having to avoid them. He was just trying to make life easier on her too. And besides, she had picked _Brad?_ He was honestly just trying to help and talk sense into her.

_Could of said it a lot nicer than that Chris._

"Fuck you." she shot back and ran out of the room, scampering up the stairs and slamming her door as hard as it would slam shut.

Chris groaned as he stood glued in place. Brad cleared his throat, reminding Chris that he wasn't alone. "Well, not that this wasn't a lovely evening." Brad stood, chucking the nice bag to Chris. "But i best be on my way, early start tomorrow, and i'd rather go check my nose out at the doctors before training to make sure its not broken."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen, its fucking fine."

Brad rolled his eyes and showed himself out. Standing in the doorway he glanced back to see Chris was still in the same pose. "Later." he finished, not really expecting an answer. He received the tip of Chris' head in acknowledgement and was out the door.

_I'm a fucking idiot._ Chris thought over and over. He began pacing the room once again, straining his ears to hear anything from Claire's room, and felt guilt wash over him when he heard her faint sobbing from upstairs.

* * *

_He's such an asshole._ Claire tried to muffle her sobbing as best she could with her pillow but she was pretty sure it was futile. She could take his _'i'm disappointed in you's'_ but what she couldn't take was such an awful nickname. She could deal with idiot, she could make her peace with retard, hell she could even learn to tolerate bitch if it was used quite sparingly, but slut? from my _own brother_? and he had really meant it too. Plus, being mortified in front of someone who was going to bring you out on a date wasn't exactly fun.

She sniffed and gasped for air as her soft pillow covered her face. She didn't even want to go out with Brad! or _any_ STARS member for that matter! _well.. okay maybe not counting _all_ the members.._

_No!_ This crush was getting ridiculous. She was never going to go out with the man! There was so much wrong with Albert Wesker that she knew that if she simply listed her reasons out, she'd realize how idiotic she was to even think that was a possibility!

_He's an asshole, for one... but he did take you out to dinner.. and_ _paid._

_He's a sadistic freak for getting me up so early last Saturday! .. but i did get to see his house and learn a little more about him, something Jill was clearly jealous about.. gee, aren't i the special one.._

She growled into her pillow out of frustration.

_He's mysterious and shady as hell! .. but hes a police officer, if he was easy to read then he'd suck as an interrogator._

_Hes demanding and arrogant as all hell! .. but he is a police force captain.._

_Oh you know what? forget this._

She threw a pillow at her door and threw the covers over her head. Her sobbing had now subsided and had been replaced with a funny sense of curiosity over her boss. He had, funnily enough, taken her out to her favorite restaurant on a spur of the moment gesture, and she ended up having quite a nice time with him.

She noticed he was quite guarded with her, giving her very simple, sometimes vague answers to what she would consider rather general questions, but maybe that was just his demeanor. Maybe he was a smooth talker, able to talk circles around her in order to avoid the subject at all costs, or maybe that's just how he was. She was beginning to wonder when that opportunity for that second dinner date would come up so she could study him more.

_Wait, dinner date?_

Did she just call going out for ribs with her boss _a date_? Despite her sore eyes and raw nose, she laughed. Wesker would never of considered it a date, and Claire flushed at the thought that _she_ even did. For one, the stake house wouldn't of been what she would of considered romantic. It was pretty much a bar that was well known for serving you a fantastic, sauce smothered steak, ice cold bear and a mechanical ride bull if you'd had enough to drink. She snickered despite herself. _And if i could choose to go to a fancy french restaurant in a ball gown or the steak house in a hoody and jeans, there wasn't even a question._

Claire didn't particularly do romantic. Sure, she enjoyed the polite mannerisms and the gentlemanly conduct while in public, but a box of chocolates _so_ wasn't her thing and flowers gave her allergies. She'd much prefer an action or comedy movie night with tons of food or a night out at the bar, not stuck in some prissy restaurant where she couldn't even read the menu.

She blushed when she tried to picture the perfect man in her head and he had all the features of Wesker. A strong built man, rippling with muscles, neat tidy, blonde hair, piercing eyes, high cheek bones, tall...

This silly crush had officially crossed the line into a full blown infatuation, and it was infuriating. Claire never chased the guy, the guy's were always chasing her. Her last _serious_ boyfriend had been dropping not so subtle hints that he liked her for a month before they dated. She figured he liked her when they'd met a party, her only walking in the door when he stumbled over to her and stuck his tongue down her throat.

She groaned at the memory. _Another asshole. An asshole i was stupid enough to date._

She groaned even louder when her mind flashed the words 'Brad could of been another asshole!' like a giant neon sign. True, he was a cocky, arrogant kind of guy, but she doubted an asshole. But.. then again, that wouldn't be the first time she miss judged character.

Sighing, she rolled over in the bed, taking her duvet and bed spread with it, rolling up like a caterpillar._ Maybe i'll just listen to Chris and avoid STARS all together, don't need him screaming at me any more._

But then again, following dearest brothers every whim never guaranteed her immunity from their screaming matches. She shrugged, deciding she no longer cared. She was getting one of her post crying migraines and knew she was over thinking. As usual. With a long sigh, she finally fell asleep at 9 pm on the nose, uncaring of how early it was, just knowing that sleeps sweet embrace was exactly what she needed.

* * *

"So.. this big fantastic plan," William started, slowly removing dishes from the fridge and onto the lab surface. "to do with Clara or whatever."

"Claire." Wesker corrected monotonously.

"Right." he said, shrugging. "Hows that going?" he asked, not particularly interested, but he had just spent an hour talking about Sherry's piano recital, and although Al didn't say a word to stop him, the way his jaw had tightened and locked said more than words ever would.

Wesker smirked as he zoomed up on the virus through the microscope. "Quite well." he answered. "She's reacting to everything as expected."

"And what exactly _is_ everything?" William asked, slightly worried the man beside him had done something akin to sleeping with her, not calling her, and her clinging to him like a security blanket until he did. He arched a brow when he heard the snick of a scalpel hit the marble work surface and turned to see Al smiling. "I wanted to see how exactly Claire would react if i reduced her almighty brother to the size of an ant by screaming at him today."

William's right eyebrow he suspected had reached his hair line. "And?"

His smile was ferocious. "I took her out to dinner."

William scoffed and let out a loud, fake _'ha'_. "Why am i not surprised?" William shook his head. "poor girl wont know what hit her once you're through."

Wesker tutted and shook his head. "Do you think so low of me Will? If it helps you sleep better at night, you have my word that i will be letting her down easy when the time comes."

He chuckled and watched Al with interest. "Help _me_ sleep better at night? Al, i honestly worry for you."

Wesker's grin remained, completely unphased by Williams comment. "I thank you for such unnecessary concern for my well being but its not needed William, for you see i know what is required of me to advance in these halls, so by all means, worry for yourself." he turned back to his microscope and began adjusting dials. "From how the progenitor study is going, i sincerely mean it." he turned to go back to his sample, satisfied that the discussion was over, but wasn't surprised in the least when he heard William scoff loudly behind him.

"Okay firstly!" he began. "Using the teenage sister of your marksman through manipulation is a pathetic way to advance in Umbrella, and you're using her for what, extra information for the combat data? That's a lot of effort your putting into a few extra lines when it comes to the paper work."

Wesker merely stared at him with a ghost of a smirk. "Perhaps."

The scientist groaned loudly at Wesker's now passive attitude. "And secondly! the study hasn't even been going on that long and you're already poking holes in it? that's rich, you know damn well how long all of the other main studies were going on until they were finally successful! they took months, and i'll have you know that the study is.. just slow right now, not lacking in anything."

Chuckling, he turned back to his sample. "Right." he answered. "That was quite the rant for such a small piece of bait."

A little dumbfounded, William was about to ask what exactly he meant by that, but he wasn't given the chance.

Wesker cleared his throat and pulled a brief case up from beneath his stool and gestured for William to look at its contents. Snapping back the two latches, he opened it to reveal 3 vials, each of them containing a lime green serum. "Is this B?" William asked in mild curiosity.

"The Gevasana virus actually, G-strain for short." Wesker corrected. "I decided to rename it, B sounded.. very second option.. G just sounds so much better, don't you think?"

"And.. i presume you have an update regarding it?" William asked, picking up one of the delicate vials and inspecting it, completely ignoring what he presumed was a rhetorical question.

"The virus is stable, it does not kill any hosts upon injection and is able to boost the immune system dramatically, as well as improve physical strength, but its not enough." he stated, picking up his glasses from the counter and placing them on. "Its stable, so now its only a matter of fortifying it."

William was in a daze. "You got it stablised?!" he asked in awe. "Wesker this is perfect! now its only a matter of adding after affects to it!"

"Yes." he answered as he slid the briefcase closer to William. "I believe that's your area of expertise."

William smiled as he turned the vial over in his hands, feeling more excited than he had in weeks. "I'll get straight on it!"

"I leave it to you then." he said, walking out the door, but stopped in the doorway to cast a glance back, seeing William still turning the vial over in his hand. "And William?"

He looked up with a grin on his face. "I believe this should qualify as a favor to you by getting us so far in this research." His grin slowly disappeared and he grew suspicious. "Yeah?" he asked, a little reluctant to receive an answer.

"I would appreciate periodic updates on the Progenitor study in return."

William slowly inclined his head. _Why the hell does he want that?_ "If i'm caught giving you information-"

"You will take notes, bring them to my home and explain the study as you receive information." he said simply.

William nodded. "Alright, but if i'm caught i'm blaming everything on you."

Wesker smirked. "That's fair." he replied as he walked out, leaving William to do as he pleased with the samples.

* * *

Chris huffed in anger the following morning when he opened his little sisters door to find her messy bed empty. He noticed a sticky note on the make-up mirror by her desk when he turned to leave, and walked over to it, squinting his eyes at the small hand writing. _Got a ride with Jill. _was all it read.

_Great._ She was clearly mad over the night before, and, well, Chris didn't especially blame her. He would of been pissed if she'd called him an asshole and had truly meant it. Sure, that type of stuff pissed Chris off when friends said it, but Claire was a whole other story. What the siblings said to each other was always taken to heart, and when arguments like the one the night before got to the point where it had, both always instantly knew that someone was going to get hurt.

You could heal from a bruise, cut, broken or sprained body part, but it was way harder to heal from insults from loved ones.

_Claire probably hates me. This is just not my fucking week._

Sighing, he trudged out of her room and made his way downstairs to grab a piece of toast and some orange juice. Between Claire being pissed and Wesker most likely _still_ being pissed, today was shaping up to be a shit enough today. He smiled softly to himself at the thought of going to the movie tonight with Jill and Claire, and knew that at that point, the siblings would be patched up, they never could stay too mad at each other for too long.

He desperately hoped so anyway.

Downing the rest of his orange juice, he placed the dishes in the sink and made his way out, hoping into his cruiser and making his way towards the RPD, playing out two fun scenarios in his head.

_Either Claire gives me the cold shoulder all day, explodes once she gets home and skips out on the movies, or Wesker calls me up to the office to scream at me some more._

_I sure can't wait to find out_. He thought sarcastically as he sped down the street.

Upon arriving in the RPD, he noticed the reception desk was empty, but didn't think of it as incredibly significant as Claire was most likely in the bullpen getting files or fetching coffee for someone.

As he walked up the steps to the STARS offices, his ears pricked at the sound of Wesker speaking, but his voice wasn't steeped in anger or full of his condescending undertone, and with his curiosity getting the best of him, he walking right in.

He was caught completely off guard when he spotted the STARS, and surprisingly, Claire, sitting in a circle around Wesker and Enrico. Wesker ignored him, while Enrico gestured him to take a seat. _Great._

"As i was saying." Wesker stated. Chris had to fight wildly against the urge to roll his eyes as he took the seat beside Barry to the far right - unintentionally the furthest away from Claire. She didn't even look in his direction. He also noticed Brad sitting between Forest and Jill, occasionally rubbing his nose that was all bandaged up. _What a baby._

"I would appreciate it if the STARS managed to be here by 6 am on Monday morning, we are leaving at 6 am sharp and the bus will not be waiting for anyone." Wesker stated, arms folded and eyes hidden behind those stupid sunglasses as per usual. Enrico, while in the same position, didn't look nearly as intimidating as the Alpha Captain, but what else was new?

Enrico took the helm and started listing off things the members would need. He would of paid attention, but the list was so damn long, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed Claire taking notes, so he saw no point in listening. He in fact nearly dozed off when suddenly a sheet was shoved into his hands my Barry. Looking down on it, he noticed it was a form of some kind.

"Returns those to Miss Redfield before you go home or out on patrol." Wesker stated. "Dismissed." and with that, everyone stood and either went back to there desks or back to their offices in the captains case.

Chris froze when he caught Claire looking at him, but when she walked passed him he instantly reached out for her. He meant to grab her arm but Claire sidestepped it just in time. She glared back at him. "What?"

Chris stuttered over his own words for a moment, a little thrown off balance at just how full of venom her words were. "Claire, come on, i'm sorry." he stated, looking her directly in the eye, hoping that would cease this spat by convincing her that he was serious in his apology.

"Why did you call me that?" she asked between clenched teeth to keep her voice down, her angry near bubbling over the surface.

"I didn't mean to say it like that, it came out wrong Claire, you know i don't think you're like that at all!" he answered her desperately wishing this stupid fight was over. "You know i love you and i don't think of you like that in anyway!"

Claire wavered for a moment, still feeling a little angry, but Chris spoke up once again. "A-and to say i'm sorry," he started out awkwardly. "Y-you can date him." he said in a hushed tone, not wanting to alert anyone that he was actually giving Claire permission to go out on a date with Brad.

But little did he know he had the full attention of Albert Wesker only a few feet away, putting up patrol hours on the notice board.

Claire giggled and shook her head. "Chris, its fine. We were only going to go out for food or something, i don't even care anymore, and i'm sure he doesn't either."

Wesker raised an eyebrow._ Is she referring to the Chinese food i had promised her last night?_

"Well why don't you ask him? i'm sure hes still interested." Chris forced out, annoyed that he was even saying this, but he had to give Claire a little space after last night.

Claire smirked up at Chris, knowing full well how painful this was for him to say. "Don't worry about it Chris, i'm over it and so is he, besides, i have my eye on someone else." she winked playfully and turned to leave.

"And who the fuck is _that?_" he growled at her, but all he got back was the resounding sound of her giggling. Giving up, he sighed and shook his head. What an idiot. He smirked and trudged back to his desk, greeting Jill and Joseph as he sat.

_Yes, who is that._ Wesker thought, a little more angry than he thought was necessary. He needed her to be completely in love with him for his plan to work, so he needed to get her back on track with him in a drastic way. He couldn't afford her running off with some forsaken Romeo and leaving him with the damnable task of gathering the data he needed himself.

A smirk crept up on his face unbeknownst to himself. And she won't, _i just need to.. surprise her._

And surprise her he would.

But Wesker was feeling a little angry that he was even being compared with another male and losing to one in Claire's eyes, and he needed a stress reliever.

"Chris. A moment in my office." Wesker announced to the young man at the back, his smirk towards Jill and Joseph disappearing in an instant as he looked up, the look in his eyes the very same as a deer caught in the headlights. As he stood sadly, Wesker led him into his office, shut the door, and settled into his leather chair for what was sure to be a fun talk.

And it was at times like these, that Wesker remembered why he was a morning person.

"So tell me Chris." he began, his voice deceivingly casual. "What exactly happened to Brad's nose?"

* * *

**I didn't really end this the way i had originally intended, but its all good! Next chapter you guys will see weither he gets to go on the trip or not, feel free to keep voting since i wont be starting the next chapter until tomorrow at the earliest.**

**So now we see Wesker get a little jealous, and trust me when i say this wont be the first time. KEKEKE *rubs hands together evilly* **

**If things go according to plan, i think the trip will either be next chapter or the chapter after. And also, thanks for all the reviews and general positiveness, i know i'm not the greatest writer in the world so i really and truly do appreciate any feedback, reviews and PM's, they truly mean the world to me!**


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